ESSEX County Council has launched a brand new guide to help teachers find educational, fun and stimulating cultural workshops and sessions that are delivered by the rich mix of arts and heritage organisations across Essex.

Explore Culture: Schools guide is designed to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for the county’s teachers to quickly identify the sessions that are relevant and appropriate for their year group and curriculum planning. Explore Culture: Schools is available now in all state funded schools. To access an online version, go to www.exploreculture.org.uk/schools

Organisations scattered the length and breadth of the county include lesser known gems such as Jaywick Martello Tower and the Essex Police Museum, all the way up to our cultural giants, such as firstsite and the Mercury Theatre.

Find out more about the documents that bring to life what happened in the county during World War 2 with the Essex Record Office, or explore different art skills and techniques at the Gibberd Gallery.

Did you know that we have three railway museums in Essex alone? These museums, galleries and historical houses cover many aspects of the national curriculum, not just History and Art, so they offer a unique learning experience to each child, focussing on hands-on exploratory learning, often with real objects and artefacts.

Teaching about Forces and Machines becomes tangible at the Museum of Power and creating an animated film becomes a reality with Signals Media. Or perhaps you have a challenge, a topic or subject that you want to teach in a new and different way? You could partner with many of these organisations to create something unique for your class.

Cllr John Spence, Essex County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Heritage, Culture and the Arts said “This book shows teachers the phenomenal range of cultural and historic locations in Essex to which they can take their students. Teachers often choose the same location again and again, but we want to encourage them to try something new.

“Essex is a magical county, and its cultural offering is as diverse as any. With this guide our younger generation has even more opportunities to experience, learn from and take great pride in the wonders Essex holds.”

The production of this useful booklet, by the Cultural Development team, for teachers is timely due to the recent release of the Government’s Cultural White Paper, which talks about culture being an essential part of every child’s education, both in and out of school.

In addition, Arts Council England launched the Cultural Education Challenge calling on the art, culture and education sectors to work together in offering a consistent and high quality art and cultural education for all children and young people. These both link to Essex County Council’s vision to increase educational achievement and enhance skills.