August 16 2010
Waipa’s museums have been awarded a $250,000 three-year contract with the Ministry of Education to provide learning opportunities for school children.
The contract allows the museum to employ a full-time educator and additional contract educators depending on the needs of visiting schools.
Waipa District Council museum and heritage business director Jan White said the contract will bring more than 14,000 children from 90 schools to the district’s museums. Although most will come from the Waipa and Waikato regions, some classes will come from as far as Invercargill and Auckland.
“School visits complement others activities at the museum like workshops and public talks. Learning generally takes place at either the Te Awamutu or Cambridge museums, but we also go on field trips and take classes at heritage sites in the Waipa district,” Mrs White said.
“One of the reasons Waipa was awarded a contract when many others missed out was because of the wealth of collections held by our museums, and the fact that we are located in a district which is rich with significant historical sites,” she said.
“Feedback we received from the Ministry was that our contract proposal was very well prepared – one of the best they received.”
Te Awamutu museum’s collection is worth more than $40 million. Mrs White said only a small percentage of the collection was able to be on display at any one time because there was not enough room. The rest was kept in storage.
For more information, please contact:
Jeanette Tyrrell
Ph: 07 872 0097 or 027 293 8679
Email: jeanette.tyrrell@waipadc.govt.nz