You are here: Home: Community and living: Libraries: Library services and facilities: Services

Services

Children's and schools library service

Education Unit

The Education Unit delivers both library and museums' services to schools in Calderdale. One of our main functions is to co-ordinate, plan and deliver activities for children in Calderdale schools, but part of our team also work with adult learners and in the coimmunity. Presently the Unit is delivered from two centres.

The Schools' Library Service

Situated in the Central Library, Halifax, and provides resources for schools in Calderdale to support children and teachers in the delivery of the school curriculum

For further information, please contact:

• E-mail
• csls@calderdale.gov.uk
• Telephone
• 01422 392619/20
• Fax
• 01422 392615.

Project Loans to Schools

We have an extensive range of resources tailored to supporting the school curriculum. We have over 50,000 non-fiction items which include books, poster packs, videos, audio cassettes, CD-roms, artefacts, and other audio-visual media. The resources are suitable for children of all ages from Key Stage 1 to 3.

All subscribing Calderdale schools have a loan allocation per year and any teacher is able to borrow from us. The project loans may be borrowed for a term or half term; additionally they can be renewed subject to demand.

Teachers may self select the projects from our stock or have projects prepared for them All projects can be delivered to and collected from school at the beginning or the end of term. Alternatively, teachers are welcome to take projects away with them, whatever is most convenient.

Teachers may co-ordinate a project loan with booking a Museums workshop from our Education Team (see below).

Fiction loan service

Revitalise your library!

Schools can now select a free loan KS1 and/or KS2 box of up to date fiction. Don't miss this supplement to your school's library! These loans can be exchanged termly or retained for the year.

BookBox4Boys

A free collection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books with special boy appeal. Across the age range.

Traditional Tales

A free box of traditional tales, folk and fairy stories mainly suitable for KS1.

Instant Displays

Instant Display boxes on a variety of History and Religion topics. These Display boxes provide you with all you need for a classroom display: artefacts, posters, display labels and material, just add our books! Limited supply so first come, first served.

Thinking of classifying your school library? We have free copies of our abridged Dewey classification list available to help you. We also offer advice on:

• the DfES self assessment of school libraries at both primary and secondary level
• appropriate school library stock
• Development of school libraries plus practical assistance in organising schools' own resources
• Pre and post OFSTED appraisals of the school library.

Talks, exhibitions and visits

We are happy to visit schools to give talks about books to children or to parents. We can also offer storytelling in school and support in your school book week. A leaflet is available on the range of activities and services available to support book weeks. Contact us to discuss your requirements.

Museums and Arts Education Service

Based at Spring Hall Mansion, Huddersfield Road, Halifax but operates across five museum and gallery sites and through outreach (offsite activities). The sites upon which our education work is based are: Bankfield Museum, Shibden Hall, Heptonstall Museum, the Piece Hall Art Gallery and the Smith Art Gallery.

The Team works with schools, families, adult learners and community groups throughout Calderdale and beyond, to develop a wide variety of formal and informal education projects and programmes. All our education work evolves as a result of consultation sessions with those involved, such as teachers, families who attend drop-in events and organisations who represent sections of the community.

Schools

The Education Service provides a number of workshops for schools which relate directly to the curriculum. These sessions - which are run both at museum and gallery sites or as outreach - include:

• costumed workshops based on different historical periods
• art and craft based workshops
• workshops investigating museum and gallery objects and exhibitions
• workshops investigating museum and gallery buildings and sites.

Teachers may co-ordinate a workshop with booking a project loan from our Schools' Library Service (see above).

We also provide themed handling boxes of museum objects which can be loaned out to schools.

For a full list of the workshops available to schools and the related costs, please see our Calderdale Museums and Arts Teachers' Guide, Key Stages 1 and 2.

The Education Team also collaborate with schools to develop longer term projects, such as arts weeks and extended schemes of work based on particular topics. We may be able to source external grant funding for such projects, if required.

Families

We run a wide variety of family events during the year, both onsite and off. These are all based on museum and gallery collections or temporary exhibitions and include:

• art and craft activities
• museum and gallery trails
• object handling
• storytelling.

The activities are designed so that they are suitable for children with support from an adult. Our family events are all listed in the six monthly Exhibitions and Events leaflet produced by the Museums and Arts section.

Adult Learners

The Museums and Arts adult education courses are mainly based at Bankfield Museum and include workshops based on both the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. These are often run by the artists who created the work.

The Team's outreach work also incorporates aspects of adult learning, but this tends to be on a more informal basis.

Our adult learning events are all listed in the six monthly Exhibitions and Events leaflet produced by the Museums and Arts section.

Community Groups

The Education Team involve community groups mainly through outreach projects. We tend to work through organisations representing particular groups within the community, such as older people, refugees, adults with physical and learning disabilities, looked after children and others.

We are happy to be contacted by community groups (or those who represent them) about any new project ideas. It may be that we can source external grant funding for such projects, if required.

For further information about any of the Education Team's work, or to discuss new projects, please contact:

• Name
• Education Team
• Address
• Libraries, Museums and Arts
  Spring Hall Mansion
  Huddersfield Road
  Halifax HX3 OAQ
• E-mail
• museums-arts@calderdale.gov.uk
• Telephone
• 01422 284440.

back to top