Scoil Chríost Rí is a National School in the Cloughleigh townland of Ennis. In spring 2015, the Clare Family Learning Project (part of Clare Adult Basic Education Service), Scoil Chríost Rí, and Clare Museum partnered a pilot project called ‘Stories in a Box’.
The project involved sixth class children and some of their parents working together with their teacher Jó Mac Fhearadhaigh, Special Needs Assistant Mrs Touhy and Family Learning Tutor Colette O’Brien. The end-result was a selection of short but personal and individual stories around items that each child considered important in their own lives – items that might represent them in a museum exhibition. Parents helped guide pupils initially and children completed display boxes on their own in the classes. Subsequently, these items were placed on temporary public display in the museum and have now been photographed for permanent display on the museum website.
Projects
like this remind us that objects are important to us because of the meaning,
emotions and stories they evoke. This is very much what museums are about
and so it is appropriate for the museum to assist in displaying the objects
these children consider meaningful to them today. The project also reflects
the cultural diversity of Ennis with the sixteen children involved having
backgrounds in Kenya, Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Albania,
Serbia, the UK and of course Ireland.
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