News Work Experience at Headstone Manor – June 2026

By Ash, Ayush, Nour & Miran

Ash

At school, I study Classics, Maths, Fashion and Textiles and English Language. In the future, I’d like to get degrees in Classics and Archaeology before starting a career as an archaeologist! The week at Headstone Manor has been really helpful to get more of an insight into how jobs surrounding heritage and preservation work.

During the week, we’ve had an amazing overview of how a museum runs and all of the different roles behind the scenes. On Monday we got a tour of the Archives and an idea of what being an Archivist is like. One of my favourite parts of this was being able to hold a book from the 1930s and seeing what people had written in it. It was just a logbook, so not very personal, but seeing what someone wrote so long ago feels like a connection to the past. My favourite part of studying Classics and doing work experience like this is getting to see humanity in old artifacts like this. 

On Tuesday, we got to look at collections and begin writing a panel to go in the museum for Headstone Manor and Museum’s 40th anniversary! Seeing the collections on Tuesday was my personal favourite, because I got to look at a box of stone age flint tools. As someone who’s very interested in prehistory, I really enjoyed finding pictures of different stone tools online to identify the ones that I thought looked interesting! I loved the object handling that was part of managing the collection, and learning about all the procedures used in order to preserve objects.

On Wednesday, we took pictures of our objects and talked to the marketing team to begin figuring out how our panel would look for the exhibition. We used Canva to make the panel, and my favourite part of this was the balance required to make sure the panel is both engaging but also upholds and fits in with the image of Headstone Manor.

Then, on Thursday, we talked to the person who manages the cafe and a lot of finances surrounding it. I also enjoyed this session because it was actually quite maths-y and I love maths! We also got to do some creative writing on Thursday to help us with writing for our panel, and I loved this because creative writing is also something I really enjoy! I enjoyed writing and trying to keep a balance of being informative while also being engaging.

Lastly, on Friday, we finalised our panel for the exhibition and we’re all happy with how it turned out. To me, it’s amazing that our interpretation of an artifact is going to be displayed for the public to see - something I hope I can do again in the future!

Ayush

Hi, I am Ayush, a Year 12 student at Nower Hill High School, studying history, politics, maths and further maths. I have been interested in historical work for a while and when I found about this opportunity, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to learn more about museum work and develop the skills for the field.

The week has been amazing with this opportunity learn and experience life working at the museum. It enabled me to learn about how all different aspects of the museum are run and the local history. This work experience has allowed me to gain more knowledge about how museums store archives, collections and displays. This was a great opportunity to see some fascinating objects as well as learning skills in object handling, analysis and presentation of artifacts.

The best part of the week was looking at the collections and being allowed to handle objects such as paintings, photographs and old maps of Harrow. This helped me learn how to take care of these items and preserve them to the standards of a museum. I was really interested by many of the Whitefriars glass items due to there being many local connections as well as their unique look. These glass items came from the old White Friars factory that closed in the 1980s with many discarded but now hold historical value. 

The team has been welcoming, kind and a pleasure to work with by creating a lovely work environment. The task has further been rewarding with the panel we have produced that will be displayed at the 40th anniversary of the museum. I have enjoyed my week here and am very grateful for this fantastic opportunity to learn and meet new people.

Nour

Hi, I’m Nour, a Year 12 student at Nower Hill High School, studying English Language & Literature, History and Psychology. I’m planning on studying History at University, as well as a possibly and I thought this work experience would be a good opportunity to learn about museums and how they are run. As someone who has grown up in the Harrow area, I was also interested in learning more about its history through this work experience placement and visiting the Headstone Manor museum.

This work experience has been very insightful and has taught me so much about working in a museum, including learning about marketing, use of spreadsheets, analysis of artefacts and their presentation. This was very engaging and allowed me to learn skills that I otherwise may not have had the opportunity to. This placement also allowed all of us to spend time in the museum itself, which had a wide collection of amazing artefacts relevant to Harrow’s history, as well as being in a historically rich manor house. My favourite of these artefacts was the White Friars glasswork, as I found both the glasswork itself and the history behind it intriguing. 

I was most interested in learning about the Archives. In this part of the placement, we were taught about object handling, organisation of these artefacts and how to preserve them over time. I found this incredibly fascinating, and I loved having the opportunity to learn about this as it is something I’m possibly interested in pursuing for the future. 

We were also able to look through the museum collections and look into some of the artefacts from these Collections as part of our work for the panel. The artefact we chose was a weathervane shaped as a pennant which was previously on the chimney of Headstone Manor before being taken down in the 1970s. I found researching this object and analysing it very engaging and am glad to have had the opportunity to do this.

Throughout this experience, the team has been very welcoming and have been a pleasure to learn from. This was a great opportunity that I’m massively grateful for having been able to take part in, and I’m very glad to have learnt the skills that I did. 

Miran

Hi, I’m Miran and I’m a Year 12 student at Nower Hill High School 6th Form. I am currently studying Fine Art, Photography and Graphic Communication for my A-Levels. Working at Headstone Manor and Museum has been an incredibly enjoyable, fun, and a great experience for me. As a student who previously studied two classical and history-related subjects for their GCSE’s, it was sensationally immersive to view the plethora of artifacts and items within the museum’s catalogue as well as having the chance to handle them alongside my peers. The week also provided me with great insight into the more professional and industry-orientated aspects of graphic design and photography, as one of our major tasks throughout the week was to create a poster for the museum’s 40th anniversary as well as taking photos of our chosen artifact for said poster and effectively communicating with a wide demographic. The staff team have also been extremely supportive and kind for the duration of the week (especially with the whole heatwave thing going on) as well as informative regarding how the museum’s catalogues, archives, social media, and policies are treated. Overall, working at Headstone Manor and Museum alongside some fellow students from my 6th Form and beyond Nower Hill has been a great and major experience. 

Object Handling Poster