MENU
Home|News & Events|Lower School - King Alfred School|In pictures: Lower School’s moving ‘Museum of Us’

In pictures: Lower School’s moving ‘Museum of Us’

25th November 24

A table of decorated shoeboxes on a table in a wooden school gym. A sign reads 'reception'.

Lower School’s inaugural ‘Museum of Us’ has been hailed a huge success, with some who visited the resulting exhibition moved to tears by the creative project.

The brief to students was simple: bring in a shoebox containing a representation of yourself and the things that are important to you. The results were a joyful celebration of individuality, personal passions and community.

Common themes included special toys, favourite places, and much-loved family members and pets. Hobbies featured heavily too, from surfing and horse riding to reading and model making. One box even featured a personal music playlist that could be enjoyed via a Walkman!

Three young children stand in a line. One holds a decorated shoebox with a cassette player inside connected to pairs of headphones, one of which is worn by another child. The third child holds a decorated shoebox above their head.

“The creativity on show was fantastic,” praises Lower School Teacher Emily Tucker, who spearheaded the project. “The children really rose to the challenge. Everyone did an amazing job.”

So where did the idea come from? “We were looking at how we teach Humanities in Lower School and realised it always starts with personal histories and stories about the people within our communities.

“We wanted to give children space to tell us more about themselves and their families, and what’s important to them. It was a chance for everyone to celebrate themselves and share their stories.”

The boxes were displayed in the Lower School Hall one Friday in November, with staff, students and parents invited to view the impressive efforts. “We specifically did it early in the school year when everyone is getting to know one another, including any new children,” says Emily.

“The response from the wider KAS community was incredibly positive,” she adds. “It even made some parents cry!”

With calls to make the project an annual fixture on the KAS calendar, are there plans to repeat the Museum of Us in the coming years? “Definitely,” says Emily. “We hope to leave it up longer next time so that more people can come and enjoy it.”

Start planning your shoeboxes now, Lower School students!

Take a closer look at the Lower School Museum of Us by clicking on the gallery below

A man smiles as he takes in a display of decorated shoeboxes, with a young girl leaning in for a closer look
Close-up of a selection of decorated shoeboxes.
A shoe box on its side with drawings, a small football and a collection of crystals inside
A shoebox on its side decorated with floral paper and a pink toy bunny inside. A note reads: 'This is my special bunny. My mummy and daddy got her for me when I was a small baby. I snuggled her every day when I was a baby. I still love how soft she is.'
The inside of a shoebox decorated with Transformers paper, a toy dinosaur and alien, and a picture of a smiling boy with a happy dog.
The inside of a shoebox decorated to look like a coastal scene, with a boat in the water, shells on the beach and a windmill in the background.
Two tables of decorated shoeboxes, with a sign that reads 'Year One'
A selection of colourfully decorated shoeboxes on a high and low table, with a sign that reads 'Year One'.
A shoebox on its side with two pictures inside, one depicting gymnastics and one depicting 'drawing', with a paint palette and pens. A note reads: 'My favourite things to do'.
A decorated shoebox with pictures of baby orangutans inside and an orange orangutan soft toy hanging from the roof. A note reads: 'Monkeys in the jungle are my favourite!'
Decorated shoeboxes displayed on a table with a sign that reads 'Year Two'
A selection of decorated shoeboxes on a table, with a sign that reads 'Year Three'
Two shoeboxes on top of one another. One has blue and white spotted paper and a pair of small earrings inside. A note reads: 'This is special to me because they were my first ever earrings that I had. They were from India.' The other box has shells and trinkets inside, with a note that reads: 'Hello my name is Kobi. I enjoy finding treasures on the beach. I mostly find crystals on the beach. Here are some of the treasures that I find.'
A table of individually decorated shoeboxes, with a sign that reads 'year four'
A shoebox with a cute cat-like nightlight inside. A note reads: 'Puppit Cat. I really love my cat and I had it since I was young. It was the first night light I ever had.'
A shoebox painted blue and yellow to look like the beach and sea with waves. There are also shells and pictures of children on a beach, with a note that reads: 'This year my family and I went travelling around the world for four moths. We went to Costa Rica, Panama, USA, California, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. During our travels my brother and I loved finding shells like these on the tropical beaches.'
A table of decorated shoeboxes on a table in a wooden school gym. A sign reads 'Year Five'.
The inside of a shoebox painted silver, with a Rubik's Cube alongside a note that reads: 'I like this cube because it started my journey n cubing with this cube and now I can solved them in 30 seconds. This cube is logical and I am a logical person.'
A decorated shoebox with a personal cassette tape player inside and two pairs of headphones attached. A playlist is stuck on the side, and a note reads: 'My Special Thing. My cassette tape and Walkman is special to me because I made the cassette tape songs on it with my dad and we picked some of our favourite songs on it together and it is really special to me and that is why.'
A decorated shoebox with a picture of a bird inside. A note reads: 'The Potoo. This sanctuary contains one of my favourite animals, the... POTOO. They are important to me because they are really cute. They live in South and Central America. They feed on small flying insects and are nocturnal.'
A shoebox on its side painted red inside. There is a photograph of a key and a note that reads: 'This is a photo of a key that allows access to disabled toilets around the UK'
A shoebox on its side covered in spotty wrapping paper. There are two pencil drawings side by side, with a note that reads: 'These pictures represent how my drawing has improved. Please take your time and see how is improved.'
Decorated shoeboxes displayed on a table with a sign that reads 'Year Six;
A decorated shoebox with a puzzle block inside. A note reads: 'This is my cube, it's really hard to solve and actually I can't solve it. But I keep trying and I know one day I will solve it.'
A box decorated inside with fairy lights and a wooden train. There is also a copy of the book The Arctic Railway Assassin.
Lines of tables topped with decorated shoeboxes inside a wooden school gym, with a sign that reads 'welcome to the Museum of Us'.
A shoebox covered in floral paper, with a small art easel and paining of a watercolour scene inside. A note reads: 'Art Gallery. I brought in an easel to show my love of art and creativity. I have always loved drawing and painting, it stops me from feeling board and I chose this picture as the watery bridge by Monet because he's my favourite artist and this is my favourite of all his paintings.'
A shoebox decoated with drawings on the inside alongside two paper weights. A note reads: 'This paperweight is special to me because it used to belong to my grandparents and it lived on a glass cupboard with antiques in it. Why I find this special is because I have been to my grandparents' house since I was born to now. And I have lovely memories of counting all 1,000 paperweights that they collect.'
Two children kneel in front of a display of decorated shoeboxes
A shoebox on its side decorated with sheets of music, a mouth organ and pictures of cathedrals. A note reads: 'When I was six my mum gave me this mouth organ. I loved working out how to play tunes on it and I discovered that I really enjoyed playing different instruments. Now I mostly play the piano and violin just for fun, but I have also taught music and played violin for folk dances. Now I sing in a cathedral touring choir, which goes to a different cathedral in England of Wales twice a year and we sing all the religious services for the weekend. It's a big challenge as there is lots of music to learn but I love being part of the choir. Every cathedral is interesting and has its own history. We have even sung in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's cathedral, but my favourite is Salisbury Cathedral.'
A shoebox on its side, decorated inside with pages from a book, a bank note, paintbrushes and pots.
A shoebox on its side, painted blue and orange and decorated with shells and pinecones.
Two young children look at a collection of decorated shoeboxes on a table.

Where Next?

Reception student
Admissions
Forest school - student holding a worm
Lower School
Reception - Year 6
Upper School
Year 7 - Year 11
Sixth Form
Year 12 - Year 13

Connect with Us