The Mystery Academy: A School for Young Detectives

The Mystery Academy: A School for Young Detectives is open at The Story Museum on Pembroke Street, and it's exactly what the title suggests: you step in as a prospective student at a school devoted to detective legends, secrets and subterfuge. The hook is that the Headteacher, Christie Moyo, has mysteriously disappeared, and the only way to find her is to follow the clues around the classrooms. It's an interactive experience for young people to uncover clues and crack codes, so you're not just looking at things on a wall — you're working through the mystery yourself.

Each room focuses on a different side of detective work, and the classrooms are fronted by some very familiar names. Sherlock Holmes takes the lead on the art of infiltration, Miss Marple handles shrewd observation, and Inspector Morse covers codes and ciphers. Between them, they walk you through how clues are gathered and read, and the displays bring that to life with real objects: a camera from the 1890s designed to be concealed under a waistcoat, and a fingerprint dusting kit from the 1950s on loan from the Thames Valley Police Museum. There's an original tale by Sharna Jackson and contributions from author Robin Stevens woven in, too.

What's particularly nice is who actually built the thing. Much of the exhibition was created by the 'Story Curators', a group of young people aged 12-16 who worked after school across a term with the museum's production team. It's a school for young detectives that was largely put together by young people themselves, which gives the whole thing a bit more weight than your average museum display.

The Story Museum is in a reclaimed telephone exchange on Pembroke Street, OX1 1BP, and it welcomes up to 100,000 visitors a year. Tickets range from £1 to £16, so it's easy enough to bring a group along and spend an afternoon working through the case.