Young people take charge at Swindon's Museum of Computing for half-term

The students, all studying ICT-related T-Levels at the two colleges, have been undertaking a work placement at the Swindon town centre museum since the summer as part of their studies.

Throughout their placement, they have played a key role in the running of the museum, from greeting visitors to assisting with daily operations. Their hard work culminates this half-term when they will take full responsibility for running the museum from Tuesday, 17 to Saturday 22 February.

As well as benefitting the museum by enabling it to stay open longer, the placement helps students build confidence, develop interpersonal skills, and gain valuable workplace experience, including CV-writing and interview preparation, in addition to gaining a deeper understanding of computing history, which they can apply to their studies.

Keith Mortimer, Chief Curator at the Museum of Computing, said: "Working alongside these young people has been a fantastic experience. It has been a pleasure to help them develop skills they can carry forward in their careers, and seeing them grow in confidence has been very rewarding. I am excited to give them the responsibility of running the museum over half-term and hope many families will support them by visiting."

Isaac Rodrigues, who will be supervising the team, said: "Taking part in this placement has enhanced my leadership, teamwork, and collaboration skills while deepening my knowledge of older technology and machines. 

"By the end of my work experience, I hope to advance my creativity by suggesting new ideas for the museum to implement."

Fellow student Gabriel Darrell said: "Through this experience, I have gained confidence and strengthened my communication and teamwork skills. By the end of my placement, I hope to deepen my understanding of older computers."

Another student, Nicoli Perera, added:"Taking part in this work experience has taught me how to communicate with volunteers and given me knowledge of older computers that I hadn’t encountered before. By the end of this placement, I want to feel more confident when interacting with customers."

The Museum of Computing, which opened in 2003, is devoted to the history of computing and digital development, and was the first physical museum of its kind in the UK. It has a range of items demonstrating the history of computing, and a number of retro video games for visitors to try.

The museum is in Theatre Square in the centre of town, and its opening hours for the half-term are Tuesday-Saturday 9.30am-5pm.