The National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL), based at The Galleries of Justice Museum in Nottingham’s Lace Market, is one of the first groups in the UK to receive a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) ‘Your Heritage Grant’ which is for not-for-profit groups who want to explore, conserve and share all aspects of their community’s heritage.
The grant will fund the delivery of Public Legal Education Syndicate projects (PLES) from now until August 2014. The PLES project will creatively engage young people with the history of the justice system in the East Midlands delivering to 1600 pupils in historic former courtrooms in Oakham, Leicester and Northampton. This exciting project led by Pollie Shorthouse, Head of Learning at NCCL, has been given £80,200.
The purpose of the PLES pilot project is to create the capacity for learning across a range of three heritage sites in the East Midlands, known as ‘Hosts’. The project will bring together the three historic courtrooms and support them to create learning resources which can then be promoted to schools across the East Midlands.
The Host sites are confirmed as: Oakham Castle, Sessions House (Northampton) and Leicester Castle.
Each site has its own distinct, historic identity and all three have little or no education delivery in their court space. As well as creating a model to increase access by schools to the Hosts, the pilot will also develop and showcase the skills of interns providing them with practical experience, which will assist them in future employment opportunities within the Heritage sector. The project seeks to deliver a cost-effective model which can be rolled out across the country to maintain and increase delivery of heritage education.
Tim Desmond, Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law, said:
“Having delivered legal education in Nottingham for the last 17 years we are delighted that HLF are funding this exciting project to deliver our work across the East Midlands. Not only are we planning to introduce thousands of children to the law and heritage, but also provide career routes for adults into the museum sector”.
Find out more about the NCCL here.
Find out more about the Galleries of Justice museum here.
