School trip to London Museum of Water & Steam
In 1820 the Grand Junction Water Works Company (GJWWC) opened a new pumping station at Chelsea taking water from the Thames. Within 10 years concern about the poor quality of the water, mainly pollution with sewage, convinced the company to move its operations to a new site by Kew Bridge.
Waterworks
This brand new gallery tells the story of London’s water supply as the vital lifeblood of our city. Exciting new interactive exhibits, artefacts from the capital’s watery past and more bring this little known story to life for visitors of all ages.
From Roman terracotta water pipes to future technology, this gallery explores each exciting chapter of London lives through the ages, sustained by the Thames and the technologies developed to make its water reach the city’s growing population.
See how in the past your postcode may have decided whether you lived or died and how water was pumped by animals. Visit the Victorian laboratory and find out how scientific discoveries allowed now forgotten pioneers to make nineteenth-century London water safe from deadly diseases like cholera, saving millions of lives as a result.
Step back into the present to find out where your water comes from now and how it is filtered and ‘cleaned’. Learn about how and why we need to pump water and have a go yourself. Have a trip to the sewers to see what happens after your water disappears down the sink. Take the water quiz challenge to learn more about how much water you use and why we should all save water. Turning on the tap will never be the same again!
Schools educational visit
The London Museum of Water and Steam offers a range of educational and fun sessions for children at all Key Stage Levels as well as programmes developed for Higher Education and Adult learners. All of our sessions have been recently redeveloped to coincide with the new National Curriculum.
With a core focus on history and science, the Museum is a fantastic space for pupils to discover an array of topics, from hitching a ride on their steam train to meeting the real-life heroes of the industrial revolution! Whether early years children or college students, bring your pupils along for a unique STEM learning experience alongside their world-famous collection of working steam engines.
Their museum offers a range of educational sessions for all Key Stages, as well as their new higher education session developed in collaboration with BTec Engineering tutors.
Key Stage 1
Water links to many of the topics taught in schools and their museum is a fantastic setting to learn about it. The displays cover features such as cleanliness and health, how we use water from rivers and how these aspects have changed over time.
At the Museum your children will not only love exploring the interactive displays, but they can also experience a range of education sessions designed to stimulate enquiring minds through learning about how clean water is delivered to our homes.
Sessions are challenging and highly interactive, with pupils engaged in making things, investigating and role play.
Key Stage 2
Coming to the London Museum of Water and Steam allows your class to access a wide range of educational sessions linked directly to National Curriculum subjects, including Science, History, PSHE, Design Technology and English.
These sessions cover topics such as; local history, changes and developments in scientific ideas and the causes, significances and consequences of historical events.
Sessions are challenging and highly interactive, with pupils engaged in experiments, making things, investigating sources and role play.