Middlesbrough museum-school project reaches culture awards shortlist

Middlesbrough museum and school project reaches North East Culture Awards shortlist

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Middlesbrough Museums and Beech Grove Primary School have been shortlisted for an award recognising their object-led classroom learning partnership.

By The Tees Editorial Desk · 10 November 2026

Exterior of the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough, photographed from an angle Image: Geni / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0Image source CC BY-SA 4.0

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Middlesbrough Museums and Beech Grove Primary School have reached the shortlist for the 2026 North East Culture Awards after putting real museum objects at the centre of classroom learning.

Their Museums In Your Classroom is one of three finalists for Best Arts & Education Partnership. The category recognises cultural organisations and education providers that work together to widen creative learning and leave a meaningful impact for learners.

Objects brought into school

The Middlesbrough project began in 2025. Pupils at Beech Grove explored objects connected with the Second World War before developing an exhibition of their own, treating the classroom as a small museum rather than learning about the past only through textbooks.

Middlesbrough Council says the work is supported by the National Literacy Trust in Middlesbrough. The aim is to use objects and the stories around them to strengthen reading, writing and storytelling. A council report published earlier this year described the work as a three-year project with Year 6 pupils, involving the museum team and a local artist.

That approach sits within a wider object-led education programme across Tees Valley museums. Schools can borrow boxes containing original and replica artefacts, clothing, documents and other , while classroom resources help pupils a topic, plan displays and think about who their exhibition is for.

A regional shortlist

The other finalists in the category are a partnership involving BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, North East Young Dads & Lads and Newcastle University, and a project between The Forge and The Dales School. The awards look for shared purpose, creative approaches to learning and that a partnership has developed knowledge, confidence or participation.

Middlesbrough’s place on the shortlist follows an earlier North East Culture Awards success for the town’s museums. British Museum in your Classroom, delivered by Middlesbrough Museums, won the same category at the 2023 awards after pupils worked with objects from the national collection.

The 2026 winners will be announced at Stockton Globe on Thursday 26 November. Until then, the nomination offers local recognition for a practical idea: putting historical objects into children’s hands and trusting them to research, and share what they find.