In Your Shoes

What did we do?

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery’s collection of shoes is the largest and finest in the world, offering a wide range of opportunities for cross-curricular study. This project aimed to create online resources that would reach schools unable to visit the museum, but that would showcase the footwear displays and workshops and use them to inspire students and perhaps encourage a later visit to the museum.

An advisory group of six teachers helped to develop, trial and evaluate the resources, to ensure they catered for different age groups and were relevant to a range of National Curriculum subjects. Bearing in mind children’s interests, the resources deal with people and the stories behind the shoes, not just material facts about the objects.  The resources combine interesting information from the museum curators with activities that deliver Curriculum linked learning.

What were the outcomes?

The resources support learning about

• materials and components,
• the Romans in Britain,
• society and industry in Victorian Britain,
• living in the Second World War,
• the meanings of symbols and traditions in some religions,
• climates in different countries,
• footwear in different cultures.

The activities also help develop skills in designing and making shoes using tools, materials and components.