Working in partnership with museum staff to create a Communication Museum has helped children become more confident and competent communicators, as reception class teacher Tessa Fenoughty explains.

In June last year we received an unusual invitation. It said, 'We need your help! The Oriental Museum has been asked to create an exhibition of objects that help people communicate with one another, but all the staff are too busy to be able to do all the work. Can your class become museum curators and design, create and host a Museum of Communication in your school?'

The initiative was linked to the National Year of Communication (see information box) and co-ordinated by Renaissance North East and the Speech and Language Therapy Department, County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust. We were excited to take part in this collaborative project, but we wondered how we would engage our foundation stage unit children and make the experience relevant to such a young audience.

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