A group of secondary school students took over the running of Epping Forest District Museum for a day as part of a national history initiative.

Year 8 students from King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy, acted as staff for the day at the museum on Sun Street, Waltham Abbey on November Wednesday, November 20.

Takeover Day is a national celebration (created by Kids in Museums) allowing young people work alongside staff in museums, galleries, arts organisations, archives and heritage sites.

Pupils at King Harold put together activities and a trail for visitors, managed the museum’s social media accounts and were interviewed for BBC Radio.

After closely working with museum staff in the lead up to the event, the schoolkids were able to professionally give free tours to visitors.

Several activities which focused around climate change was also conducted by the students, linking it to the museum’s current Ice Age exhibition.

One gallery was declared a ‘no go zone’ to represent how, through climate change, parts of the world will disappear and be submerged in the oceans.

Another was filled with a week’s rubbish to show how much waste each household generates and to encourage visitors to recycle as much as they can.

Mrs Dent, history teacher at King Harold Academy, who was with the students through their whole takeover day, said: “The students had a lovely time meeting the public and sharing their concerns about climate change.

“A usually quite reserved group of students were really supported to come out of their shells by the brilliant staff at the museum and they had a fantastic time.”