Foundation / Primary
The Foundling Museum offers four Foundation/ Key Stage 1 sessions. To book any of the foundation or primary sessions described below you must download and complete a booking form. Booking information is provided at the bottom of the page. To find out about secondary school sessions please click here.
1. Thomas Coram: The Man who Saved Children, Foundation/KS1
The Foundling Hospital’s founder, Thomas Coram, is the perfect case study for finding out about "a famous person from a long time ago". Coram campaigned for seventeen years to open his Hospital, then dedicated his life to saving the lives of London’s desperate children. His legacy lives on in the Foundling Museum’s Collections and stories.
This lively session will encourage your class to find out about Thomas Coram and the lives of some of the foundling children using art, artefacts, archive-based resources, dressing up, role play and much more! Teachers’ notes, classroom activity ideas, a children’s guidebook and a video are available to support this fully resourced study unit.
National Curriculum links:
History - 1b, 2a, 2b, 6b, 6c
English En1 – 2a, 2b, 2c, 2e, 4a, 4b
Art & Design – 2b, 2c
Citizenship – 1a, 1b, 2i
2. Finding Me: Citizenship & Identity, KS1, 2 and 3
Students use their creative skills to express thoughts and emotions, and their personal sense of ‘self’. As well as a lively history session looking at the experiences of children who once lived in the Foundling Hospital, students take part in creative group activities in the Museum’s galleries. Book any or all of the following modules:
A. Finding Words - creative writing (stories, letters, poems) inspired by Foundling children’s lives and artefacts on display.
B. Finding Ourselves – students’ create self portraits full of personal symbolism, inspired by and created in the presence of real 18th century portraits.
C. Finding Tokens - Desperate mothers often left their babies at the Hospital with a small personal item. Students look at the meaning of ‘tokens’ on display. The class can also go on a token hunt in the park outside the Museum.
National Curriculum links:
Citizenship - 01, 05, 07, 12; 7a, 9a, 10gen
PSHE
History - 7, 11, 22
English - En1, En3
Science - 2b
Art & Design - 1a, 1b, 2b, 4c, 5a, 6c, 9gen, 10gen
3. Victorian Foundlings, KS2
Against the background of the stunning Museum Galleries and our dedicated Education Centre, students use objects, drama, costume and archive material to experience life as: A Victorian foundling growing up in the Hospital, a parent struggling to do the best for their child under the difficult circumstances of Victorian London, a Governor of the Foundling Hospital, making difficult decisions about which children they should take in.
Activities include: role play, object investigation and handling, dressing up, speaking and listening, group discussion, decision making.
National Curriculum links:
History – 2, 3, 4a, 11a
English - En1: 1b, 2a, 2b, 4a, 4c
Citizenship - 2e, 4b
Science - 1a, 2a
PSHE
A thought-provoking and entertaining addition to KS2 classwork on Victorian Britain is the historic novel, Hetty Feather by Dame Jacqueline Wilson. Following the story of a girl growing up the Victorian Foundling Hospital, the Museum can offer you Teacher’s Notes, incorporating pupil tasks to accompany the reading of Hetty Feather in school. Click here to find out more.
4. Drama Session, KS2
A fabulous cross-curricular session combining history with drama in partnership with UCL Bloomsbury Theatre.
Part 1
The day starts at the Foundling Museum with a lively interactive session using Museum objects, discussion and role play to bring the story of the Foundling Hospital to life. Students discover why children in eighteenth and nineteenth century London needed help, how the Hospital’s Governors chose which babies to take in and what daily life was like for foundlings.
Part 2
After lunch, the class walks to UCL Bloomsbury Theatre’s studio and becomes the cast in a play set in the Foundling Hospital long ago. This part lasts two hours and can be held back at your school or on a different day if you prefer.
National Curriculum links:
English – En1
History – 2, 11
Citizenship – 01, 02, 07
PSHE
Booking Information
All group visits must be booked in advance. Sessions are avialable Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Charges for sessions include Museum admission.
Students under 18 years — £2 each (minimum fee £30 per class)
All staff and helpers — FREE
Class leader must make payment during the group’s visit by cheque or credit or debit card. Space for eating packed lunches must be booked in advance and is subject to availability. To book a session, or to find out more please complete a booking form and contact the Learning Department or call 020 7841 3605.
Download booking forms below
