Our Mission, Vision & Aspiration
Our Mission To engage children from birth to 14 in a range of play-based learning experiences which facilitate their emotional, intellectual, physical, social and creative development.
Our vision is to provide extraordinary opportunities for creative play, discovery and learning in inspirational and sustainable spaces to children from all backgrounds, abilities and circumstances
Our aspiration is to provide a context and environment which enable children to make connections across the range of their experiences and help them make sense of the
world, discover their potential and place within it and develop a lifelong love of learning.
Our Core Values
Captivating – Eureka! exists to capture children’s and young people’s imaginations, inspiring them to learn, develop and grow in confidence within a playful, engaging and thought-provoking space.
Involving – Eureka! is for everyone. Every community, every family and every child and young person – regardless of background or ability – is invited to spend time discovering and learning in a nurturing yet challenging environment.
Expert – Our collective knowledge of children’s development, play and discovery-based learning and exhibition design combined with an active co-creation process results in rich and meaningful experiences grounded in solid research and contemporary approaches.
Pioneering – Eureka! The National Children’s Museum was the UK’s first children’s museum and set the gold standard for playful learning experiences in museums and galleries throughout the country. We continue to sustain this approach, looking to the future, taking risks and always being one step ahead of the sector.
Our Strategic Direction for 2024 to 2026 is focussed around consolidating the growth from Eureka! The National Children’s Museum to an organisation operating two visitor attractions with the requirements of ensuring continued sustainability and meeting our charitable remit overall.
Legal structure
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Registered charity
Eureka! The National Children’s Museum is an educational charity – number 292758.
Here’s our information on the Charity Commission website and our Certificate of Incorporation.
Governing documents
Memorandum and Articles of Association of Eureka! The National Children’s Museum.
Trustees/staff/current structure/organisation chart
Our objective of ‘Experience Excellence’ is in many ways dependent on having excellent staff to plan and deliver that experience! We know our visitors love our staff as they are regularly feeding back lovely comments and stories of how their interactions with our people at Eureka! are as important and appreciated as the exhibits themselves. We are all a part of #TeamEureka
This is one of the reasons we put all our staff photos on the website and front and centre of much of our marketing! Have a look at our current staff team.
Properties & assets
We have responsibility for a number of assets including our museum building, three listed buildings (1855 Station Building, the Great Northern Shed, Shaw Sykes Goods Yard), a public footbridge that crosses our grounds, three large car parks and a green landscaped playscape.
For more information have a look at our major assets list 2025.
Speak our language
At Eureka!, we put in serious effort to avoid jargon. But, you might catch us talking in abbreviations, acronyms and Eureka!-isms—it’s like speaking our own secret language! 😂
However, as you’re now part of the club – we want to clue you in as soon as possible, so here’s a handy cheat sheet. Don’t worry, there’s no exam!
