A new display will open at Horsham Museum on Saturday 23 May which has been developed by year 2 pupils from St Mary’s CE Primary School in Horsham. The project, called the Young Curators’ Club, will showcase creative writing, hand-made artefacts and model buildings related to the students’ chosen topic, The Great Fire of London.
In late 2025, St Mary’s CE Primary School approached Horsham Museum about a creative writing project, which developed into the Young Curators’ Club. Following a workshop with Horsham Museum Curator, Nikki Caxton, the pupils began creating the elements for their display.
After thinking about how life was different over 350 years ago, they then used their creative skills to write short segments of text, describing what London was like in 1666 and bringing to life the events of the Great Fire. The pupils identified that alongside words explaining what happened, museums usually display objects from the past.
As Horsham Museum does not hold objects related to the Great Fire of London in its collections, the pupils were challenged to create ‘artefacts’ which represent those that could have been discovered from the rubble of the fire. The different elements of this project have been brought together to produce the Young Curators’ Club mini-exhibition at Horsham Museum.
Horsham District Council Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, Culture and Green Spaces Cllr Tony Frankland commented:
“I am delighted that we were able to host the pupils from St Mary’s School to develop The Young Curator’s Club and create this unique exhibition.
“Providing an outlet for young people’s creativity and ingenuity, as they build their knowledge and enthusiasm for all things historical is always a real pleasure.
“It is great to see that the school children took such inspiration from our iconic Museum and Art Gallery as they delved into their topic area and learned from our talented staff.
“I’m so pleased they had such a memorable and enriching experience.”
Megan Francis, St Mary’s Class Teacher said:
“The children at St Mary’s have really benefited from an opportunity to think carefully about the purpose behind their writing and exactly who they are writing for.
“They have been incredibly motivated by the project and worked really hard to produce fantastic non-fiction writing to accompany their artefacts and artwork in the exhibition.
“Not only has it given them an opportunity to build on their writing skills, but being a young curator has also helped develop their understanding of how historians work and how we can use physical objects as well as written sources to find out more about the past.”
The Young Curators’ Club: The Great Fire of London display is open during normal museum opening hours from Saturday 23 May until Saturday 29 August 2026 with free entry to the Museum and exhibition.
For more information please go to: https://horshammuseum.org/events