© Museum of London London of © Museum This is your river Practical science session and gallery drama for KS2 In partnership with © Museum of London Docklands 2015 Contents Curriculum links, session descriptions and gallery time 3 Timetable 4 Practical guidelines 5 Pre-visit activities 6 River pollution today 7 Post-visit activities 10 Further opportunities with Thames21 17 Planning your journey 18 2 © Museum of London Docklands 2015 Curriculum links Pollution in the present Science A hands-on, scientific look at our rivers today. During this session pupils will Life processes and living things, Living examine a sample of river water and things in their environment learn how pollution enters our local waterways. They will use reactive tablets History for identifying pollutants in this sample. We will provide pupils with protective gloves and facilities to clean their hands A study of an aspect of history or a site afterwards . This activity will be fully dating from a period beyond 1066 that is explained and supervised by the significant in the locality (the River workshop facilitators. There is a low risk Thames). of pupils becoming ill if they ingest either the river water sample or pollution Session descriptions reaction tablets. Therefore we ask for your support in reaffirming the guidelines we give for carrying out the activity during Pollution in the past the workshop and helping us to ensure pupils undertake it safely. Meet Sir Joseph Bazalgette and hear about the Great Stink and his ambitious Further learning scheme to carry sewage out of London. Within this pack you will find suggested activities to enrich your teaching before and after your visit, and to help you and your class to get the best possible educational value from your visit to the museum. 3 © Museum of London Docklands 2015 Timetables The sessions below will run once only and at the times stated in your confirmation letter so please arrive on time. There will be schools booked for the other sessions and you will not be able to overrun your allocated time. It is your responsibility to ensure your pupils are on time for their sessions. Please check your confirmation letter for your allocated group. Group 1 10 – 10.30am Arrival 10.30 – 11.30am This is your river workshop session (learning room, basement level) 11.30am – 12pm Lunch (Lee Boo room, basement level) 12 – 12.45pm The Great Stink (First Port of Empire gallery, 2 nd floor) Group 2 10 – 10.30am Arrival 10.30 – 11.15am The Great Stink (First Port of Empire gallery, 2 nd floor) 11.15 – 11.45am Lunch (Lee Boo room, basement level) 11.45am – 12.45pm This is your river workshop session (learning room, basement level) Group 3 10.45 – 11.15am Arrival 11.15am – 12pm The Great Stink (First Port of Empire gallery, 2 nd floor) 12 – 12.30pm Lunch (Lee Boo room, basement level) 1 – 2pm This is your river workshop session (learning room, basement level) 4 © Museum of London Docklands 2015 Practical guidelines Arrival, cloakroom and toilets Please use the main entrance on West India Quay. When you arrive you will be met by a member of the Visitor Services team, who will brief your group and direct you to the Learning Centre where you will be able to leave your coats and bags and go to the toilet before entering the galleries. Please do not leave valuables in the cloakroom area. Lunch If appropriate, you have been allocated a 30-minute lunch slot in your schedule. There is no eating or drinking in the galleries, so please ensure that all food stuffs are left in the cloakroom. Please ensure your students leave the area clean and tidy for the next school. Special Educational Needs provision The museum is fully accessible. Parking is available for SEN groups. Please contact our SEN Programme Manager to discuss any specific needs on 020 7814 5549 or at [email protected] Shop The shop sells a variety of books and products to support learning, as well as pocket money items. Please request a time slot in the shop or if you would prefer, the shop offer a time saving goody bag service. A goody bag form will be sent with your confirmation letter. For further details contact the shop by email at [email protected] or call 020 7001 9803. Photography Photography during schools sessions is welcomed. You are also welcome to take general photographs (i.e. not close-ups of individual objects) within the Museum galleries without flash or tripod use. These images may only be reproduced for personal or educational purposes, which include reproducing the image as a classroom teaching aid or as part of a school project. Any publication of the image for any other purpose is forbidden, which includes publication on any website. As an alternative pictures of many of our key objects are available to download from the Picturebank on our website, www.museumoflondon.org.uk/picturebank . Postcards and posters can be purchased from the shop and prints may be purchased from our on demand print website www.museumoflondonprints.com Risk assessments It is the responsibility of the group leader to carry out a risk assessment and teachers are encouraged to make a planning visit and to carry out their own assessment. The museum makes regular assessments of our public spaces and this document is available on request, but this is only for teachers’ information and does not constitute an official risk assessment. Pre-visits are free of charge and do not need to be booked. Please inform staff at the Information Desk of the nature of your visit so they can help you make the most of your time in the galleries. Organising your group Split your class into small groups for working in the galleries and visiting the shop. Please ensure that you have at least one adult for every 10 pupils and that the adults accompany them at all times. Please ensure your pupils know the following information: • work quietly – other groups and members of the public will be using the museum • please do not lean on the glass cases • only use pencils in the galleries. Teachers should provide clipboards and pencils and photocopy gallery activity sheets PRIOR to their visit so that each pupil/group has a copy for use in the museum. 5 © Museum of London Docklands 2015 Pre-visit activities We highly recommend doing one or more of these activities before the session. • lead a class discussion about pollution. Discuss types of pollution and how this pollution could get into our rivers. Consider pollutants washing off roads, coming from our homes and schools, and how London’s outdated sewage system is often overloaded and overflows into rivers. See teacher notes in River Pollution Today section below to support this • ask pupils to plan the timetable for their day out at the Museum of London Docklands. This could include planning travel arrangements and timings, helping to write letters home to parents, discussing what they could bring in their packed lunches, talking about suitable clothes to wear etc • use the internet to find out about the London Docklands or the River Thames and how they have changed over time • if your school is close to a river or other watercourse, take your class to observe it to see what evidence they can find of pollution. 6 © Museum of London Docklands 2015 River pollution today The River Lea is London’s second river, flowing from the Chiltern Hills to the River Thames. It is a vital habitat for wildlife and source of London’s drinking water, yet every day we pollute it. There are four main sources of pollution that affect city rivers. Misconnections Two types of drainage system exist in London: • combined, where all flows go to foul sewers and are treated at a sewage works • separate, where clean rainfall drains directly to river, sea or ground, and foul sewage drains to a sewage treatment plant Problems occur when plumbing is incorrectly connected. Two types of misconnection exist: • sewage or waste water pipes connected to clean surface water drains • clean water pipes connected to foul drains Misconnections cause pollution. Foul discharges to clean water drains result in untreated sewage going directly to a watercourse. Clean rainfall to foul drains is also a problem as it causes sewerage overflows, takes up sewer capacity, affects sewage treatment plants and takes energy to pump and treat. 7 © Museum of London Docklands 2015 The water quality of the River Lea is seriously affected by these types of misconnections. Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) In a combined sewer system all of our wastewater and surface water goes into one pipe. This pipe takes everything to a sewage treatment works for processing. When it rains our sewer system cannot cope with surface water in addition to our waste water which results in a sewage overflow. The more rain that enters sewers, the less room there is for sewage. A combined system is designed to overflow into a river instead of backing up into streets and homes. It is estimated that untreated sewage and sewage-related debris is discharged into our rivers at least once a week. After heavy rainfall, Deephams Sewage Treatment Works in Edmonton overflows, discharging millions of tonnes of wastewater into the River Lea. Pollution from roads and car parks Green space amounting to 22 times the size of Hyde Park has been paved over in a generation in London, such as small fragments of greenery that have been covered in housing, asphalt or concrete slabs. Front gardens have been turned into parking spaces.