Important update from TheSchoolRun
For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.
What this means for subscribers:
- Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
- In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
- As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.
A few changes to be aware of:
- The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
- The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.
*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.
Museums reviewed by parents: The Great North Museum: Hancock
Gaze up in awe at a lion, polar bear, elephant, tiger and plenty more in between from the polar, tropical and desert regions of the world. Visitors young and old can’t fail to be impressed by the life-sized animal exhibits in the Great North Museum: Hancock. Moving around the museum allows you to delve into ancient history, the local environment and a T-Rex skeleton as well as a collection of fossils.
Download fantastic science resources today!
- Experiments And Science Fun pack
- Science Learning Programme for each school year
- All the instructions, questions and information you need
Best for Nursery and Reception kids
The Mouse House is perfect for pre-schoolers and is aimed at children under five. There are dressing up costumes, sensory games, storybooks and a fun tunnel system to crawl through.
Best for KS1 kids
The interactive screens on the museum’s first floor are magnets for little hands. Whether it’s to classify UK wildlife or find out more about exotic creatures and their habitats, the touch screen encourages instant learning and is ideal for short attention spans.
Best for KS2 kids
The museum regularly puts together themed exhibits such as Dippy the diplodocus. These are often free exhibits available daily, but the museum recommends you book in advance. As well as viewing things like huge skeletons, children can learn more about history and take part in crafts.
Don't miss!
The museum’s planetarium shows include short 10-minute documentaries about subjects such as the sun and how cells make up our bodies. Longer length shows are 25 minutes and feature topics such as the Big Bang and whether alien life exists.
Half-term and holiday events for families
The museum hosts a range of exhibits and events for younger children, sometimes involving animals and creepy crawlies! They also have fun themed days throughout the year that are well worth checking out. For more information visit the What's On section online.
Food and drink options
During the school holidays the museum opens up a dedicated packed lunch area or, if the weather is warm enough, visitors can picnic on the lawn outside the museum’s entrance. Inside the Great North Museum there are two café options: a smaller coffee shop on the ground floor and The Hancock Café on the first floor that has a restaurant menu. Visitors can pick from a hot food menu including kids’ menu options or select items to make up a packed lunch.
Getting there, prices and opening hours
Located in Newcastle’s city centre, the museum has no parking spaces, although there is a bike rack with space for approximately ten bikes, but there are public car parks nearby. The museum is easy to reach by public transport, very close to both the Haymarket bus and metro stations.
The Great North Museum is free to visit although organisers suggest a £5 donation.
Great North Museum: Hancock
Barras Bridge
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4PT
Open 10am-5pm Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm on Saturday and 11am-4pm on Sunday. Closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Pocket-money shop purchases
No visit to the Great North Museum is complete without a browse of the many dinosaur-related goodies. My son was drawn to the dinosaur novelty watches that were £3.99 each but other popular pocket money souvenirs included hatching dinosaur eggs (£5.99) and pull-on costume dinosaur heads (£4.99).
Online treasures if you're too far to visit
The Great North Museum website offers plenty of learning resources and activities to download, including gallery explorer kits, code-cracking worksheets and maths challenges. Download and print some visit-enhancing sheets to fill in during your visit!
Links to the National Curriculum
History is an important part of the primary curriculum and pupils from KS1 onwards are expected to develop an unawareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time.
- Maths: counting and shapes (Reception, Nursery)
- Egyptians (KS2)
- Ancient Greece (KS2)
- The environment (KS1 and KS2)
- Space (KS1 and KS2)
- Exploring religion (KS1 and KS2)
- Fossils (KS2)
- Dinosaurs and prehistoric age (KS2)
- The natural world (KS1 and KS2)
Photography: © The Great North Museum
Museum reviews for parents: we need YOUR help!
TheSchoolRun is looking for families to visit museums and other educational venues around the country and 'review' them. Get in touch to have your say about the best family days out (with a learning twist!).
