At the start of the autumn term, a class from Furze Down School in Winslow, were invited to test and evaluate a new workshop at the National Paralympic Heritage Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. The workshop was designed to provide a learning experience outside of the classroom for young people who might find engaging in a museum setting challenging because of their sensory needs. The workshop included providing the students with a host of pre-visit material, including a visual story and sensory maps, to help to reduce the anxiety of visiting a new place for the first time. The young visitors were offered a sensory circuit upon arrival to help with the transition to the Heritage Centre where they played a visual timeline game which explored some of the different sports introduced to the Paralympic Games over it’s now 73 year history.

The visit was a successful and valuable experience for both the school and the museum and it is hoped that more visitors will now feel able to enjoy learning about their local sports history as a consequence of this pilot which was delivered as part of the COG: Cultural Outreach Group engagement project with funding from Rothschild Foundation and Buckinghamshire Council.

The Heritage Centre is located inside the Stoke Mandeville Stadium and is free to visit.

Please visit the link to download the visual story and sensory maps. https://www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/planning-your-visit

If additional support is required for your visit please contact Fiona, the Learning Officer, who will be happy to arrange this for you. Please email: fiona.darlingglinski@paralympicheritage.org.uk