Dear Listers My museum has been closed since December 2007 to enable major redevelopment to take place. Prior to this we offered a very successful education service, and during the closure our education staff have worked hard to maintain our education figures by going into schools with objects. This has proved very popular, as it is not only cheaper, but the schools don't have the hassle of arranging an out of school visit, such as hiring coaches and completing risk assessment forms. We are now tasked with creating a new education service for when we reopen in spring 2010, which has to include a continuation of our outreach service as well as in-house sessions. Even though we will have a new museum and education suite, we are concerned that we are going to have real trouble trying to get schools back through the doors. Do any of you out there have any suggestions of what we can do to entice them back? Do you have any experiences that you would like to share? As an aside to this, our education service is both income and user number driven - do you think it is more important to raise money or to count the number of children through the door? Regards Leeanne Westwood | Senior Museum Assistant, Heritage Services Valence House Museum London Borough of Barking and Dagenham | Becontree Avenue| Dagenham | RM8 3HT. Phone: 020 8270 6744 | Fax: 020 8270 6868 | Email: [log in to unmask] | www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk <http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/> Working together for a better borough that is safe, clean, fair and respectful, prosperous and healthy, and where our young people are inspired and successful. P Protect the environment and save trees; please only print if essential E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements. If you are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any person:to do so maybe unlawful. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).