St Michael’s Mount - Where Learning Comes to Life

A new initiative to engage with schools and community groups across West Cornwall has been created by St Aubyn Estates. The Learning Hub is headed up by Kerry Rice, Education Officer, who joins the Estate following 10 years of teaching at a local primary school and before that, 20 years as Learning Curator at Tate St Ives.

Based at St Michael’s Mount, Kerry will lead and shape a new educational programme on the Mount with plans to establish an outdoor learning strategy across the entire Estate. Working with schools and community groups across West Cornwall, the programme will be designed to engage children and young people in creative and collaborative experiences that bring the history of the island and its locality to life.

Kerry will be supporting teachers to plan group visits, helping them create links to the National Curriculum and providing them with relevant teaching resources. This includes literacy-focused visits to learn about the myth of Cormoran the giant; geography-focused trips to understand the nature of a tidal island; art-focused visits to view paintings from the Newlyn School art collection, history-focused tours that delve deep into the timeline of the Mount and science-based topics exploring the wildlife and shoreline of Marazion beach and marshes.

Several exciting projects are already in the pipeline. This December will see the planting of 500 trees for the Queen’s Green Canopy in Friendship Woods with pupils from St Hilary School and Marazion School planting saplings to be enjoyed by future generations.  The Gwelva Time Capsule project launches in the new year and hopes to bring Marazion School children together to create or source items for a time capsule to be buried on Gwelva Boat Landing, one of the boat landings where visitors take boats to and from the Mount. Next summer, the West Cornwall Primary School Book Festival, a project sponsored by the St Aubyn Foundation, will take place at Penwith College.

“Schools and learning groups have always been welcomed to the Mount and the wider Estate. The introduction of a dedicated Learning Hub brings structure to our offer and provides the vital resources that teachers need to bring important subjects to life.” Harvey Thomas, CEO, St Aubyn Estates.

The Learning Hub is funded by the St Aubyn Foundation, a charitable programme that supports initiatives in West Cornwall that make a difference to the local community.