Learning blog

Kensington Palace, Saturday 4th May 2013

Kensington Palace Our Lady of Victories Primary School

Families made their own Imperial State Crown and dressed up in Earl's robes and wrote their own Coronation Oath.

Family activities at the Tower of London 2013

29 March - 2 April 2013 Bonnet making comeptition, Easter Egg hunt and spring palace tapestry activity.

This schools partnership scheme is between Kensington Palace and St Thomas More Language College. The aim of the scheme is to build a relationship between the school and the palace over a sustained period of time, including visits to the palace and activities at the school agreed upon collaboratively between the teachers and the education officer at Kensington. For the spring/summer term we have created the following projects. Shoes, shoes, shoes The focus for Year 7 visits to the palace will be observational drawing; using real and historic objects to look at form, texture and detail through drawing. We will work with 3 classes from Year 7, all classes Russell Carter teaches to look at historic shoes in the handling collection. The students will have a handling collection session led by a member of the education team at Kensington where they will learn observational drawing techniques and have an introduction to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. The students will then take their sketches back to school and, in groups, create their own papier-mâché lantern models of shoes to hang and display in the palace and at school. This ties-in with their scheme of work at Year 7 looking at observational drawing and 3D model making. Patterns in the palace The focus for Year 8 visits to the palace will be pattern and form; using the gardens and natural patterns from the wallpaper and furniture in the palace. We will work with 3 classes from Year 8, all classes Russell Carter teaches, to look at patterns in the palace, using observational drawing and block printing techniques to inform a ceramics project back at school. Students will take their sketches and printing work back to school and then create individual ceramic tiles which will combine to create an installation piece to be displayed at the school and at the palace. This ties-in with their scheme of work at Year 8 looking at ceramics and print making. Garden design Year 9 students are already involved in a garden design project with Kensington and Chelsea College. We will work with two classes from Year 9 to compliment this project and offer Kensington Palace gardens as an extra resource for them to use for coming up with their own garden designs. We will use the gardens for sketching of natural forms and patterns as well as referencing the garden designs and illustrations from 1730’s from the Charles Bridgeman scheme as well as Todd Longstaffe-Gowan’s contemporary representation of the gardens around the palace. Ordinary/ extraordinary The focus for visits and project work with Year 10 will be to help in their mock exam, which for this year is Edexcel GCSE Art and Design theme 2012, Ordinary and/or Extraordinary. The words to use to inspire students work along this theme are - usual – typical – common – customary – routine – unremarkable – unexceptional – unusual –exceptional – remarkable – unfamiliar – special – strange – curious. The students will use Kensington Palace as a resource to look at this theme guided by Russell Carter. Students will use paintings/ interiors/ historical characters from the past to explore this theme for a final piece for their mock exam. School website webfronter.com/rbkc/stm/ Jenny Wedgbury, Education Officer, Kensington Palace jenny.wedgbury@hrp.org.uk

Tell me a story – exhibition design and interpretation at Kensington Palace 16 November 2012 11:00 – 12:30 Kensington Palace The rooms of Kensington Palace hold fascinating stories waiting to be told. Portraits hanging on the wall tell of love and loss, tapestries tell of rich ambitions and secret doors tell of the back of stairs lives of servants. We have recently transformed and re-opened the palace to tell these stories in new ways using innovative and imaginative interpretation techniques. In this workshop, students will find out about what goes in to transforming a palace. They will then be set the task of creating their own little exhibition in a box; working with an artist to think about how they would represent the palace and its collections. This workshop was part of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group, Creative Quarter event .

Children in Year Six at North Beckton Primary School looked in detail at the life of Sir Thomas More, who was imprisoned in the Bell Tower for fifteen months. Following their visit to the Tower of London, they thought about how More would have felt on the eve of his execution in 1535, and wrote letters from More to his family. In Art, they created charcoal drawings of the interior of the Bell Tower.

Children in Year Four at Ferry Lane Primary School started the Take One project by researching the Bell Tower and Sir Thomas More. In their Art lessons, the children composed their own portraits of Sir Thomas More. In Literacy they wrote diary extracts in role, empathising with More as they reflected on his experience as a prisoner in the Bell Tower.

Palace Explorers is a unique exploration and storytelling project for families at Kensington Palace: primary schools from the local boroughs have been selected to become members of the Palace Explorers Network (P.E.N.). They are sent on an adventure to help the Keeper of the Books to explore places, discover secrets, unravel mysteries and tell stories while learning exploration, storytelling and digital skills. They will become explorers, ready for new missions and adventures, and they need their families to join in, to strengthen the network to explore and discover the memories, stories and secrets of the past and present and save them for the future

Following their visit to the Tower of London, children from Broadford Primary School were inspired to produce some great Literacy work. The themes that touched them most were the imprisonment of Sir Thomas More, castle defences, and the character of King Henry VIII, and the children chose to explore these topics across many areas of the curriculum. In Literacy, the children wrote letters between the King, Thomas More and the Pope. They also wrote stories of escape, imagining how a prisoner might evade his guards at the Tower of London. The children wrote in character from the perspectives of different people involved in More's execution, and described the scene from the viewpoint of a single brick in the Bell Tower wall. They also made castles with strong defensive features, using mathematical and DT skills to design, draw and construct their fortresses. In their Art lessons, the children created some stunning oil pastel portraits of Henry VIII at different stages of his life, with each portrait displaying a different persona of the King.

Artist: Tom Barnecut School: Year 7, Westminster City School Aim of project: To explore the history of royal collectors and their cabinets of curiosities during the 18th century. Students then took inspiration from the palace to create their own objects for a cabinet of curiosities. Learning objectives: To find out about Queen Caroline’s cabinet of curiosities here at Kensington Palace in 1720’s and 30’s. To understand why people in the 18th century collected things and their fascination with the world around them. To explore ideas around collecting and what it means to people personally – why do people collect things? Outcome: Students’ worked in their explorers notebooks to collect ideas, smells, colours and drawings from the palace to go into the final cabinet of curiosities. They then chose objects from a range of different ephemera to represent some of the natural and supernatural! elements of Queen Caroline's cabinet and created plaster casts of them for the final cabinet.

Berger Primary School ran Take One Building with their Year Two and Year Four classes. Year Two used sketching pencils to draw some of the key features of the Bell Tower, learning shading techniques to show areas of light and dark. Inspired by the vaulted ceiling of the Lower Bell Tower, they also made arches with clay, and practised using slip to join their bricks. The children also focused on the patterns that they saw at the Tower of London, using objects from around the classroom to produce repeating patterns inspired by the Bell Tower. Year Four children from Berger Primary School were captivated by the story of Sir Thomas More, which they heard in the Bell Tower. They discussed how it would have felt to have been imprisoned in the Bell Tower, and wrote diary entries in role as More. They also planned, designed and made 3D scenes of the cell, using cardboard boxes and model magic.

After visiting The Tower of London and learning about the Bell Tower, medieval architecture and the importance of key stones when building arches, the children of Year Six at Ben Jonson Primary were inspired to design bridges using arches and curved shapes as part of their DT lessons. Their task was to design and make a model of an arch bridge to cross the River Thames in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Children first explored the key features of arch bridges, and investigated how they worked and what forces act on them. They researched what features would make their bridges strong, and designed several ideas before selecting one final design proposal. They first used K’nex to build models and examples of their bridge shapes before creating their final model. For their models, the children used a variety of materials and methods. Some built a strong frame structure in an arch shape using paper straws, before creating a beam. Others used hardboard which they carefully measured, and drew and cut out their arch shapes before adding jelutong wood to strengthen and support it. Beams were added, as well as strips of hardboard as arched roofs, before the whole bridge was decorated in stonework for an authentic medieval look. Ben Jonson may have discovered the next Isambard Kingdom Brunel!

Children in Charing Cross Class at St Michael’s explored the theme of soldiers’ protective clothing for their Take One Armour project. They identified and described reasons for armour, making links between armour and social status. Studying the decorative side of Henry’s armour, the children created a display based on their findings. With the invaluable help of a core group of parents, the class made a giant engraved collage of young Henry on his horse, and each child reproduced individual versions, using the medium of tin foil and magazines. The children wrote about their experiences while taking part in the project. Children in Tower Hill Class at St Michael’s were inspired by the way in which the articulation of armour is so closely linked to the natural world – an armadillo, for example, is a prime example of an ‘armoured’ creature – and explored the theme of animals and protection for their Take One Armour project. Drawing on three main aspects – animals with natural armour, camouflage, and brightly-coloured predatory animals – the children produced collages to illustrate their learning.

Children from St. Joseph's used Take One Armour as a starting point for a huge range of exciting activities. Their visit to the Tower came hot on the heels of a visit to Hampton Court Palace, so they were really in the Tudor frame of mind. The children learned that Henry VIII's armour actually told a whole story, and when they returned to school, the class researched some of the historical figures that were depicted on Henry's armours - including Katherine of Aragon, St. Barbara and St. George. They created storyboards, telling the stories of these characters before performing them orally. To look the part, the school teamed up with SCAS (Southwark Costume and Artefacts Service), which lent them costume and props for their role-play. Following the creation of their storyboards, the children produced bigger storytelling artworks which were partly inspired by the tapestries that they saw on their visit to Hampton Court Palace. Finally, the children interpreted the stories and characters as they wrote their own versions of the stories. Participation in Take One gave the children a clear understanding of the purpose and significance of armour, increasing their understanding of Henry VIII and the Tudor world.

Children at St. Bartholomew's used their visit to the Tower as a springboard for a study of Tudor portraits. They discovered that the typical Tudor artist did not like his subjects to be smiling, and that he always made them look attractive, spending a lot of time detailing the jewellery and clothing that they wore. Using a mirror, the children sketched their own self-portraits in the style of a Tudor artist. Towards the end of term, St. Bartholomew's held a Tudor day. They went to school in Tudor costume and took part in Tudor-inspired activities, cooking a wide range of traditional Tudor food - frumente, spiced gingerbread and vegetable potage. They decorated Tudor masks, created Tudor costume collages and built wattle and daub walls, before having a Tudor feast to sample all of the delicious food that they had cooked earlier in the day.

At Shaftesbury Primary school, Year Three integrated Take One Armour into the school’s unit on Henry VIII. The idea behind the unit was for the children to understand who Henry VIII was as a monarch and how his lifestyle, family and role in society affected Britain. The unit was linked in a cross-curricular manner, to incorporate core and foundation subjects into the children’s studies. Subjects such as Literacy, ICT, Drama and Art were linked with the project. The children created pieces of armour, concentrating on the detail and imagery, in their Art lessons, and character profiles, account writing and diary entries in Literacy lessons. After taking part in the armour workshop and exploring the Tower of London, the children established who Henry VIII was, what his physical features were and how he changed over time. The children could then put themselves in the role of Henry VIII, discussing how he would have felt being such an influential member of Tudor society. The Take One Project was a great success in Year Three, enabling the children to take a hands-on approach to studying Henry VIII and the Tudors. The experience of taking part in the project enabled the children to see a clear link with their studies in History to other core and foundation subjects.

Year Two children at Hilldene Primary School incorporated Take One Armour into their unit on castles. Before their visit, they made their own castles based on the Tower of London. When they visited the Tower, they were thrilled to be able to identify all the different parts of the buildings. After being inspired by the armour workshop that they took part in at the Tower, the children designed their own coats of arms. They also wrote an account of their visit to the Tower.

At Berger Primary School, the Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Three classes took part in Take One Armour. Children in the Nursery Class created junk model body armour and shields, and used metallic paint to create their own pictures of knights and soldiers. In the Reception Class, the children used metallic paints to design pictures of the Tower of London, and using clay they made engravings like those on Henry VIII's own armour. Children in year One spent a whole week finding out about armour! They used metal plates to create symbols for their own armour, and completed pencil drawings to show the detail on Henry VIII's own armour. Back at school, they designed their own personal armour, which gave people clues about their personalities and hobbies. The Year Three children were so inspired by what they saw at the Tower of London, that they decided to create their own life-sized models of knights! During the design process, they looked closely at the designs on a variety of armours, before embossing pieces of different materials and creating design features to incorporate onto the knights' armours.

I'm Jenny Wedgbury, the Education Officer at Kensington Palace. I’ve been given a grant from the European Commission Leonardo programme to spend a month working with the education team at Het Loo Palace. The aim of the placement is to look at the connections between Kensington Palace and Het Loo and create some joint teacher’s notes on William III and Mary II. I’ll be living in an apartment in Apeldoorn and cycling to work at the palace which is located about 20 minutes outside the town centre. I'll be uploading photos of my placement and time in Holland here. You can also follow my blog posts at learningblog.hrp.org.uk and also on Twitter at twitter.com/hrp_learning

Children in Year Four at Ben Jonson Primary School had a lot of fun in their DT lessons, designing and making a new suit of armour for Henry VIII. The children started by using aluminium foil and working together to build models of armour on little wooden mannequins. They made sure all parts of the body were covered, but also that the armour was flexible enough to move around in. They also used the foil to sculpt and shape the metal into different patterns and decoration. Children also used foil to design armour shapes on black paper, thinking about the shape of the body and drawing armour that would decorate and cover it. Children used these designs to work together to build armour for their Henry VIII mannequin. Each group worked on a different part of the body, building it first on themselves using newspaper, then adding foil to decorate. The class worked hard to ensure almost all of the King’s body was covered, and that the separate pieces of armour were the right shape and size for him. All of the children enjoyed visiting the Tower of London and seeing real armour up close, and they enjoyed decorating their own squares of brass and joining these together with paper clips to make a decorative cape for the King’s armour. The children also had a jousting match with chosen knights of the class, who were covered in a lot of newspaper armour.

Lucas Vale primary school, one of the Tower of London's two partner schools in Lewisham, recently unveiled a fabulous display of children's work based on the theme "Towering through time." Throughout the partnership, children from each year group visited the Tower to hear tales of royal beasts, kings and queens and famous prisoners. Following their visits, every class undertook work inspired by the Tower in a variety of subjects, including maths, science and literacy. The school's imaginative, cross-curricular approach to learning has resulted in a bright and engaging display that showcases not only the children's work, but also the potential of partnership working to engage audiences at a deeper level.

Tower-themed carnival - The whole of Grinling Gibbons school processed through the streets of Deptford in costume, lead by a giant dragon (based on the White Tower dragon.)

Last week 13 students from Prendergast-Ladywell Fields College represented the Tower of London in the 2012 UNESCO Youth Summit at the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. For three days (27th – 29th June) 80+ young people across the UK were immersed in cultural heritage. Students came from all over the country – one group came as far as Scotland, representing the Heart of Neolithic Orkney! As part of the conference we took a boat trip to Ravensbourne, a specialist university in digital technology. It was here five of our winning students walked onto a live recording studio and were interviewed about their project. This recording will be featured at the Olympics! Look out for our World Heritage champions on the big screen throughout major parks where the Olympic Games will be shown. This was an exciting opportunity for young people to celebrate, and learn about what we as a nation consider to be significant and has outstanding universal value to humanity. I thorougly enjoyed working with our local school in Lewisham.

On 3 June 2012, over 400 people from community groups across Tower Hamlets came together for a special street party at the Tower of London to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. With wonderful music performances from local steel pan, recorder and vocal groups, lots of food, and a front row view of the historic River Pageant, we all had a great time despite the rain later in the afternoon!

Photographs were taken by participants of community outreach photography workshops in Queen's Garden behind the Kew Palace and in Kew Gardens' glasshouses during spring and summer 2012. For many participants these were the first attempts in digital photography! Workshops were facilitated by the Community Outreach officer and simple digital cameras were used to find interesting details and patterns in the gardens. Some of the pictures of the palace were taken through glass and colour filters. Community Outreach programme in Kew is a cooperation between Historic Royal Palaces and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Encrusted in jewels, lined with velvet and trimmed with ermine, the British royal crowns are the most opulent headdresses. However, despite their grandeur, crowns were personalised to the tastes of their wearers. Queen Victoria wore a tiny diamond crown atop her widow’s veil, whilst Queen Alexandra preferred the flexibility of wearing hers as a crown or a circlet, and Queen Adelaide, who objected to borrowing diamonds, had her own jewellery re-set instead. Taking inspiration from these regal creations, you will make your own unique fascinator or headpiece. Under the guidance of milliner Ani Townsend, you will learn basic hand sewing techniques, wiring, reusing broken jewellery and shaping sinemay.

To celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee this year we took a trip back in time to the last diamond jubilee, Queen Victoria's in 1897. We worked with our partner school, St Mary Abbots Primary, Fox Primary (RBKC) and Larmenier Sacred Heart Primary (Hammersmith and Fulham) on a number of different projects exploring the way in which people decorated the streets and their homes in 1897. We did a bunting project, a jubilee triumphal arch project, a stained glass chandelier project and even hosted a jubilee pie photo shoot!. Work from these projects were included in the current Jubilee - a view from the crowd exhibition at Kensington Palace. Thanks to everyone who helped make all the projects such a success. A special thanks to Sarah Preece, Alix Hall, Natalie Ryde and Tom Barnecut. Jenny

Gilding using gold leaf is an important traditional craft skill at the Tower, used to create impressive effect on internal and external decorative features. Throughout history, gilding has been associated with spirituality to symbolise divinity and religious devotion, and used to cultivate the royal image of kings and queens. In this workshop adult learners put their hand to this fiddly material. Throughout the day they saw examples of gilding around the Tower, and gained experience of working with loose gold leaf.

15 Students from Prendergast-ladywells College participated in a once-in-a-lifetime experience to creatively engage with the Tower of London. It was an intense week of learning about their World Heritage site and developing new skills in film making. With the help of award winning Chocolate films, three fantastic films were made in response to this question: “Who are we and what does our World Heritage Site mean to us?” Students from Prendergast are now our future champions for World Heritage.

Cake decoration workshop as part of our Kensington Palace adult learning spring programme. The workshop was devised and led by cake artist Rachel Mount www.rachelmount.com/

October half term was the busiest yet for family learning at the Tower, with between 500 - 600 visitors taking part in the events each day. It was so busy it has taken me a month to recover! Families re-created the drama of the Royal Menagerie, as they coloured and donned animal masks, finger puppet animals romped along the tables and ravens and lions became caged inside magic thaumatropes. The beasts of the Tower were brought back to life as children created their own animals out of feathers, fabric furs and paper skins. With instructions attached for the keepers on how their animals should be cared for, we had many young patrons who gifted their creatures to the Royal Menagerie, as you can see. This holiday also included special artist led workshops, where the animals appeared as ghosts in a series of shadow puppet workshops.

The Tower has teamed up with London Drawing for The Big Draw in an exclusive drawing event. 50 participants found themselves locked in the Tower and its grounds in an after-hours journey! Explored and drew from stories inspired by ancient stones and colourful history in the eerie atmosphere of the Tower at night.

During the recent building work on the palace, fragments of historic wallpaper have been found hidden behind cupboards and panelling and under layers of plaster. The fragments date from the 1790’s to the 1940’s, giving a fascinating glimpse into the historic decoration of the palace. There are regency blue stripes, bright orange floral patterns, Chinese inspired traces of bamboo lattice as well as pin print hand-printed designs. The wallpaper fragments were found on the ground floor rooms of the palace, rooms which used to be inhabited by high-status servants and housekeepers. These cryptic unfinished patterns form the basis for our current Artist in Residence programme at the palace. We are delighted to announce that we have recently recruited artist Natalie Ryde to conduct a residency at the palace from April – September where Natalie will be working on her own commission as well as with our learning audiences to create work inspired by these wallpaper fragments.

HRP Education have been working in partnership with the Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts on DesignQuest, an exciting and innovative project sponsored by the Burberry Foundation which was aimed at encouraging young people to learn about costume and design, as well as to have a go at creating their own sartorial masterpieces. The project ran from November 2010 and involved 330 students from years 7-9 from nine London schools and featured visits to our very own Kensington Palace, including the amazing Enchanted Palace exhibition, as well as an opportunity to handle items from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. This all served as inspiration for students’ own designs which they then went on to complete for a celebration event which took place at the Banqueting House earlier this week. In attendance was the Duchess of Cornwall who was able to talk to many of the students involved. Costume created during the project was modelled by students from RADA and shown in all its glory on the catwalk during the event.

The Tower of London is famous for many things, but a lesser-known story is that of its role during the Second World War (1939 – 1945). Just as scraps of land all over the country were turned into vegetable plots to supplement the nation’s dwindling food supply, so too was the Tower of London’s moat. An allotment was installed in the moat which had been drained in the previous century, enabling the Tower’s residents to make their own contribution to the Ministry of Food’s ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Now, over 70 years later, there is an allotment at the Tower once more. It is the focus for an intergenerational community project, with participants from Neighbours in Poplar, exploring the history of the Tower in the Second World War, the history of the Home Front more generally and of course, learning practical gardening skills!

The history of the Tower, as the fortress we know today, begins with the building of the White Tower, the gigantic structure at the centre of the complex that gives the Tower of London its name. A credit to the skills of masons old and new, the remarkable preservation of its form makes it the most complete 11th-century palace in Europe.

Archaeology & Discovery Weekend is an annual event held at the Tower of London. Stalls, displays and activities related to archaeology and conservation line the Wharf, whilst during low tide the public can go down onto the foreshore of the Thames (Tower Beach) to see what they can find. Archaeologists are on hand to tell people how old their object may be, and what use it might have had.

In this taster day, blacksmith Kevin Boys introduced the basic techniques and processes of this traditional craft. The office of a smith at the Tower of London can be traced as far back as 1275 under the reign of the warrior King Edward I. At this time, a smith's importance centred on making weapons and other military equipment. Over 100 years later ironwork was used for more peaceful purposes. Doors needed hooks and hinges and windows required casements and bars. In an account of the Kings Works a smith forged an elaborate candelabrum decorated with five 'flowers in the fashion of roses'. Throughout the day, you will gain experience of working in hot steel, using fire, hammer work, and various tools to enable you to twist, bend and shape your very own masterpiece.

Practical workshop to experience the art of squaring and cutting brick; the highest expression of the bricklayer's craft. The 241 chimneys of Hampton Court were an integral part of the 1514 design for Cardinal Wolsey's palace, and demonstrated his exceptional wealth. This taster day lets you get up close and personal with the design and craft of these famous chimneys. Led by brick specialist Emma Simpson, you will experience this rich traditional craft through its theory and practice.

On 9 and 10 July the gardens of Kensington Palace were buzzing with people of all ages as they danced, listened to stories, watched a fashion show, tried on costumes, read history booklets and tried their hand at art activities, all at the 'Kensington Palace Party'. This free public event was an opportunity for people to come and get a taste of some of the palace's stories in fun ways - from beginners' classes in different dance styles as enjoyed by Kensington's historic residents (from Baroque to rock and roll) to storytelling sessions about colourful characters such as Peter the Wild Boy, fun art and craft activities to a community fashion show inspired by items in the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, and more. About 3,500 people attended this Outreach & Community Involvement event over the two days, helping many people to see that Kensington really is a palace for everyone.

The Banqueting House marquee at West End Live was back for the third year running. This year West End Live (an event organised by Westminster City Council, celebrating West End shows and cultural/entertainment organisations) was in Trafalgar Square, just up the road from the Banqueting House. 4,500 people visited our marquee over the weekend of 18/19 June 2011. People made crowns (inspired by Charles II, who was welcomed as King at the Banqueting House, but didn't have a crown as the old one had been destroyed by Oliver Cromwell), people tried on royal style robes (like those worn by James VI and I in the Banqueting House ceiling paintings) and people got arty with our colour in Rubens ceiling (an illustrated version of the Banqueting House ceiling). We also gave away booklets about the Banqueting House.

To mark the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, community groups took part in two projects at Kensington Palace. Adults from three different groups learnt about royal weddings from history as they worked with the artist Kay Aplin to decorate 29 beautiful ceramic doves - one for each of the days of April leading up to the Royal Wedding (these were displayed in the entrance hall of Kensington Palace throughout April). After the wedding, the doves were sent to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as a gift from the community groups. Participants also got the chance to make their own Royal Wedding tea towel with the artist Emma Rios in screen printing workshops. All the participants came together ahead of the wedding to have a community Royal Wedding party.

Queen Mary II was the first royal resident of Kensington Palace, along with her husband William III. Mary loved to collect blue and white porcelain and displayed it in innovative ways at Kensington Palace. Community groups learnt about Mary II and the history of blue and white china, before working with the ceramics artist Kay Aplin to create their own blue and white china tea set. The project culminated in a big tea party in the late Princess Margaret's Drawing Room at Kensington Palace, where the participants got to be the first people to use the 100 piece tea set which they had created.

Sarah is an artist who has been using the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Kensington Palace in her practice. The work hinges on the premise that drawing is a kind of touching and a touching that involves a certain degree of delicacy, sensitivity or care. It is commonly said to be able to reveal the otherwise unseen and be one of the most intimate acts of art-making. It is often associated with a sense of privacy and is valued for its capacity to leave a trace of human presence. Sarah set out to test these values by seeing what drawing may have in common with other areas of research and professional practice involved in caring for historic costume. This brought her to Kensington to study intimate and often unseen articles in the collections, learning how they can be seen, kept and known and asking what these activities share with drawing. Her work involves drawing using wax infused paper.

Make your own mask, family activity at the Tower of London, inspired by the 'Royal Beasts' exhibition.

The Enchanted Palace installation at Kensington has provided the Education and OCI teams with fantastic opportunities for creative projects and workshops. We have worked with a wide range of ages and audience groups. Here are some examples of the enchanting and magical work they've produced. For more information about Learning at Kensington Palace please go to www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/educationandcommunity/Lea...

As part of the ERCG Creative Quarter event on Friday 19th November we ran an art installation workshop in collaboration with the Serpentine Gallery and artists Jiggery Pokery. Inspired by the Room of Palace Time in Kensington Palce, our workshop was a fun activity where students could come into the palace and work in a group to create a headdress. We then photographed them modelling their creations against some fitting backdrops. These are the results from Northbrook College foundation students in the morning session. LOVE them!

Patchwork Palace On Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th October the education team worked with children and their families to create a patchwork palace quilt for the Big Draw event. The Enchanted Palace provided the perfect backdrop for us to look at examples of 18th and 19th century silhouettes of palace characters. Children cut out these shadowy forms and then enchanted them, fixing them on to the patchwork using needle, thread, sequins and pearls. The finished patchwork will be hung in the Learning Space at Kensington Palace.

Connaught Opera returned to Hampton Court Palace to perform concerts of light opera and old favourites for older people's groups from the local area around the palace.

Essential information for making a successful education visit to Hampton Court Palace. for more information click here: www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/learnatthispalace/hampt...

Image of Tower Beach in its 1930s heyday. In 2009 the 75th anniversary of its opening was marked with the culmination of a community reminiscence project, which gathered the memories of local people who remembered visiting the Tower's man-made beach. For more information go here: www.hrp.org.uk/TowerofLondon/educationandcommunity/Towerc...

'Rock around the palace' returned for a second year at Kensington Palace. There was a huge turnout of people of all ages, dancing the day away in free ballroom and rock and roll classes! There were also art activities for children, who could design their own 1950s style magazine cover, colour in life-size paper ballgowns or top hats and waistcoats! Further information: www.hrp.org.uk/learning/palacecommunities/ocinewsletter/s...

From bejeweled bats, caged princesses and wild-child princes Wimbledon College of Art students have been taking inspiration from the Enchanted Palace at Kensington to create their own fantastical costume designs. The education team, Front of House team and WILDWORKS theatre company worked collaboratively with final year BA Costume Design and Interpretation students to help them represent the stories of Kensington through chiffon, sequins, velvet and wax! We celebrated the outcomes of the project with a costume show, led by the students, at Kensington on Friday 30th April.

From April – May, a group of Year 10 Art and Design students worked with photographers, Chris King and Alex Drago, to create their own portraits in hidden and unused parts of the palace. Students explored themes of image, identity and transformation through the work of photographers connected to Kensington such as Lord Snowdon and Cecil Beaton, as well as other portraits in our collection. The students designed, curated and posed for their own portraits, taken on a large format camera in the palace. An exhibition of the students work was held at Kensington Palace on 28th May.