Milestones Audioguide programme

Many schools who visit Milestones choose to use our audioguides as part of their visit. Audioguides are easy to use listening devices which combine narrative, music and sound effects.

The guides give young visitors to the museum a fascinating and educational account of the different scenes, streets and displays within the museum.

The programmes are tailored to link with the national curriculum for five to eleven year olds and cover a wide range of topics for pupils studying Victorian Britain and Britain Since 1930. The Victorian programme is pitched at different levels to make it accessible for children in KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2.

The Victorian Britain programme covers the themes of Houses & Homes, People, Transport and Shops & Streets.

The Britain Since 1930 programme covers the themes of Homefront Life 1939 – 1945 and Life in Britain in the 1930s.

Milestones’ Audioguide Programme for Primary Schools has won an award for its interpretation of the county’s history. The company which produced the hand-held audioguides, Acoustiguide Ltd., has won an ‘Interpret Britain’ award, in a scheme organised by the Association for Heritage Interpretation. The award is in recognition of the Audioguide Programme for Primary Schools, which was introduced to Milestones in October 2001.

Following feedback from school evaluation forms we have recently updated our audioguides for schools. We have updated the content, removed any out-of-date information, we have added new content for areas of the museum not previously covered on the audioguide and amended the content of the existing script to make each audioguide stop shorter in duration.

The audioguides allow groups to work at their own pace and listen to information in their own time. The way the audioguide programmes run is that adult helpers are provided with maps with numbers on them. The numbers relate to the keys that need to be pressed on the audioguides to hear the correct commentary. To operate the audioguides, you find the correct number on your audioguide map, key it into the audioguide and press the green ‘Play’ button. The commentary can be paused at any time by pressing the green button a second time; and when you’re ready to go on press the same green button again. To stop the commentary you can press the red STOP button. You can adjust the volume using the controls on the side of the handset.

The great thing about audioguides is they give schools the ability to be flexible with how time is managed during their visit.

To accompany the audioguides there are also hands on activities and costumed interpreters who work in period costume.

Audioguide sample

Listen to a sample from the KS1 Victorian audioguide, or read the text below

On the corner of Jubilee Street is TM Kingdon’s, a Victorian Ironmonger’s shop. It was known as an ironmonger’s as many of the things it sold were made of metal, including iron. Visiting the ironmonger’s in Victorian times was like visiting a DIY shop today, as you could find hundreds of different things that you could use in the home, all crammed together - pots and pans, lamps, tools, brushes and watering cans. Can you imagine the smell of soap, wax candles and polish inside?