YOUNG PEOPLE & Schools

Supporting local youth services and making Platt Hall a creative, safe space for young people in our neighbourhood

young adult intent on drawing on the glass in the background a park

Between 2024 – 2026 our young people’s co-ordinator spent time building connections with local youth providers and colleges to understand and test how the Hall could be useful to this age group. During this time we have had a range of visits to the Hall from college and youth groups. Each visit has helped us to learn more about how we need to adapt for the future.

During this time we have worked more closely with the art department at Xaverian Sixth Form College and exhibited Year 12 art work inspired by visits to the Hall at an Open Day in June 2026.

There has also been a significant piece of work with young people at Trinity House who have worked with artists MikeSian to design a mural for their building, exploring their own creativity and sense of pride and belonging in the neighbourhood.

Before Michael, our youth co-ordinator left his post we spent time reflecting on what we had learnt and ideas for the future. This conversation was visualised by illustrator, Laurie Pink and will inform how we work with young people in the future.

If your youth group is based in Moss Side, Rusholme, Fallowfield or Longsight and you would be interested in working with Platt Hall, please contact Senior Learning Manager: Adults and Community Meg Parnell.

detail of a collage with a superhero a tutu a ceramic doll and a pair of fuchsia colored hair

Over the past five years we have developed a partnership programme with the nearby Heald Place Primary School that has enabled us to try out a range of ideas for engaging children with the heritage of their local environment and instilling a sense of pride in where they live. Being easy walking distance from the school, the journey to and from the Hall is part of the experience for our Year 4 ‘house detectives’ who carry out a question- and observation-based investigation of the building and its grounds.

We also develop more bespoke projects together that build confidence and resilience and help inform the longer-term development of the Hall and its collections. These include a project with University of Manchester film-maker Sophie Everest, that explored the children’s favourite toys alongside dolls from Platt Hall’s Mary Greg Collection, leading to a collaging workshop and a short, animated film. You can see this here.

"Many of our children are from families who have fled global wars, many children are Pupil Premium and many families face ongoing socio-economic disadvantage. As a school, we see great value in cultural collaborations that bring tremendous therapeutic support and cognitive and creative stretch and challenge to all children. Engaging with local cultural partnerships is intrinsic to improving confidence, well-being, self-esteem, language communication, stability and widening aspiration. We know this as pupils give us honest recorded feedback through pupil voice about our offer. Platt Hall is an incredible local gem which we would like as many children as possible to experience.”

Lucette Henderson, Art Lead, Heald Place Primary School

Many of the families of children who come to Platt Hall with school have no prior awareness or involvement in the Hall and its programmes. But this is slowly changing. By building relationships across the generations through multiple partnerships, from Family Stay and Play for pre-school children, to our emergent youth programme with Trinity House, to Health & Wellbeing courses for adults of all generations, all in the midst of where people live, we hope to play a small part in supporting families and communities to stay connected and healthy. We hope to open up our school programme to other local schools in the future and welcome ideas for how to make this happen.

YOUNG PEOPLE & Schools

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