After travelling more than 1000 kilometres to the Parramatta Powerhouse, visiting students from Menindee Central School have accommodation very close by. In fact, it’s only an elevator ride away.
The students will become the first to stay at the museum’s dorm facilities overnight, in rooms and bunk beds built for a special kind of sleepover.
“I reckon it’ll be good,” says a beaming Israel Halls, a year 10 student at the school. “I’ve seen a bit of the Powerhouse on the news, but I hadn’t heard much before we rocked up. And it’s massive. Pretty flash as well.”
Powerhouse Parramatta opens to the public on Saturday, and about 25,000 people have registered for tickets to see the $915 million institution and its five opening exhibitions on its first weekend.
The students are from one of the remotest schools in the state, and the fact they don’t often go on excursions to Sydney made the trip all the more special.
Year 9 student Jaz Fusi was amazed Menindee Central was picked to be the first school allowed in. “Out of all these city schools and all, that’s just like crazy to me.”
The group of 20 students will stay at the museum for two nights and three days, and their first impression was that it was “clean” and “smelt new”.
The custom-built facilities have a capacity of 60 beds across two dorms on separate floors. They include two accessible spaces and two spaces for teachers, and are built for schools to provide both a unique and educational experience for their students.
The accommodation is already popular with schools across the state and is booked out for the rest of the year.
Sophie Poisel is the head of the Lang Walker Academy at the museum and said the accommodation allows the Powerhouse to “kind of weave a narrative through the whole experience”.
“It’s about connecting with the exhibition, making it real world for them, connecting it back to their context back at school,” she said.
Poisel said the students would undertake a wide range of activities, including looking at the stars at night, harvesting and cooking vegetables grown on the rooftop garden, and investigating the health of the Parramatta River.
A key part of the experience is allowing the students to experience parts of the museum at different times of day, including in the morning before doors open.
Poisel added the facilities were intended to service regional schools as well as schools from around Sydney, allowing more students to see and experience the facilities and exhibitions.
Arts Minister John Graham said the kids “will have an actual night at the museum” and experience the Powerhouse’s new learning programs.
“They will join 3000 students from schools in Parramatta at the first Schools Summit on Monday, where they will hear from Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Powerhouse Parramatta project architects and some of the brightest minds internationally and nationally who are in Sydney for the opening.”
Asked if they’d sneak out to see any parts of the museum on their own, the Menindee kids laughed. “We’d get caught straight away.”
Follow the Herald’s live coverage of the Powerhouse Parramatta opening day on Saturday.
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