Open Studio: My Primary School is at the Museum

Drop into the Millennium Wing Studio to see work produced by our current school in residence!

This spring, the Gallery is running the My Primary School is at the Gallery project for the fourth year. The 5th-class students from City Quay National School have been in residence in the Gallery for a day a week, using the whole Gallery as their classroom to explore subjects across the curriculum including maths, English, history and Irish. The students invite you to their Open Studio, to see work produced during their residency and their reflections on how it went. 

The students' Open Studio

The students will hold two Open Studio days in the Gallery's Millennium Wing Studio:

• Thursday 3 April, 11am - 3pm
• Friday 4 April, 11am - 3pm
• Saturday 5 April, 12pm - 4pm

My Primary School is at the Gallery, supported by SMBC Aviation Capital, Schools Partner.

About the project

My Primary School is at the Gallery is a residency project designed to make meaningful, long-lasting connections between local primary schools and their National Gallery. Kindly supported by SMBC Aviation Capital, the initiative aims to work collaboratively, flexibly and sensitively to the needs of DEIS schools, to break down educational barriers, and actively broaden access to the arts for all.

My Primary School is at the Museum was conceived by architect Wendy James of Garbers & James, and developed in collaboration with the Department of Education & Professional Studies and the Cultuaral Institute at King’s College London. The project was developed against a backdrop of threatened museum services, a shortage of school places, and ever-growing evidence to support the range of benefits of learning in cultural environments and through collections. It tested the benefits of co-locating primary and nursery school classes for extended periods of time within a museum. The initial project consisted of a number of pilot residencies, and the detailed research report identified benefits including:

• For children: increased confidence and improved social and communication skills; greater engagement with and sense of ‘ownership’ of local cultural spaces and places.
• For museums: a deeper understanding of younger audiences, enabling the development of more relevant, engaging programmes; an extended use of their spaces and collections.
• For schools and teachers: examples of creative ways in which to deliver the curriculum and confidence using out-of-classroom spaces.