Step Back in Time

A glimpse of schooling from the past, the NSW Schoolhouse Museum is a popular excursion venue for schools. With a hands-on focus, students interact with objects and artefacts and experience early school life. They use skills of historical inquiry to investigate the past – Communication in the Past, Present and Past Family Life, The Past in the Present, Community and Remembrance. 

The NSW Schoolhouse Museum was the first building of North Ryde Public School. The original schoolroom was built in 1877 for 45 pupils with extra rooms built in 1893 and 1910. Housed in restored early schoolrooms, the museum collects and preserves objects relating to the history of public education in NSW. 

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Wallumedegal Peoples of the Darug Nation, the Traditional Owners of the land on which the NSW Schoolhouse Museum stands. We pay our respect to Elders past and present. We recognise the continuing learning systems of Aboriginal Peoples on this land and acknowledge the impact of past government policies on the education of Aboriginal children in New South Wales.

 

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School Communication in the Past

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New Stage 1 program – School Communication in the Past.  Immersive and hands-on, students will engage with stories, images, objects and sites spanning the 1870s to 1970s. More detail in Learning experiences and Typical visit. Sample excursion plans coming soon. Bookings for 2025 are being taken.

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Objects of School Days Past

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Dip into our new online resource Objects of School Days Past to examine artefacts created and used in primary schools between 1870 and 1980. We have featured 36 objects and 100 connected objects to tell the story of learning and teaching in NSW primary schools in the past.

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The Rolling Plum – an infants story from the 1950s

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The NSW Department of Education published a series of infants readers and work books from the mid 1950s to late 1960s. View a YouTube reading of The Rolling Plum from the 2nd Grade reader, Open Road to Reading. Read Di and Robbie’s memories of the story in their memories of 1960s lessons and subjects.

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