Two primary schools and a nursery in the UK have moved regular classes to local museums for up to an entire term as part of an innovation project by King’s College London.

The programme, titled My primary school is at the museum, is testing the hypothesis that there is beneficial learning, social and cultural outcomes for primary school children and their families when they receive full time education in a museum setting, as well as benefits for museums.

Through the school term, classes will have their day-to-day programme of lessons using the museum’s facilities, offering a fundamentally different experience to the occasional museum visit most school children enjoy.

As part of the innovative new scheme, a pre-school nursery for children aged three to four was based at Tate Liverpool between 29 February and 11 March. Additionally, a group of children aged nine to ten have been based at Arbeia Roman Fort in South Tyneside since January, while a second group aged four to five moved to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea on 22 February, with plans to stay there until the Easter break, with a second group occupying the museum between May and June.

The pilot schemes – funded by investment from King’s, the participating museums and the schools involved – will be used to assess the benefits and logistics of a partnership model, which could in future help to address funding issues faced by both the education and museum sectors, as well as provide learning opportunities and audience engagement benefits.

“It’s the remit of the Cultural Institute at King’s to inspire, facilitate and support collaborations between King’s and the cultural sector that have impact beyond the university, stimulating knowledge exchange, developing research and driving innovation,” said Katherine Bond, director of the Cultural Institute at King’s. “We are proud to have realised My primary school is at the museum, which looks set to achieve all of these things.”

Prior to the pilots, the idea conceived by Wendy James, architect and partner of Garbers & James Architects, was tested in an ‘ideas laboratory’ run by the Cultural Institute. The findings of the three pilots will be published in Q3 2016.