News
08 May 2009Bringing History Lessons to Life
History lessons are really coming to life through an ambitious project at three North East Schools.
Schools in County Durham and South Tyneside are taking part in the Hearts and Minds programme, which supports schools to reconnect with their local heritage by delivering workshops to find out more about the history of their local neighbourhoods and explore what heritage means to them.
Sara Caines from the School Grounds Development Project, a partnership project between Groundwork North East and Durham County Council Children and Young People’s Services supported three schools: Wolsingham School and Community College, St Joseph’s RC Comprehensive School, Hebburn and Woodham Community Technology College with the programme.
She said “The students have enjoyed the hands-on activities, working with artists and visiting local sites. It has brought the heritage of their local areas to life.”
At St Joseph’s RC Comprehensive School, in Hebburn, pupils explored a range of fascinating characters through the lunchtime club ‘Heritage Heads’.
Through Hearts and Minds, local celebrities, from runner Steve Cram and author Catherine Cookson from modern times, to the Venerable Bede in the medieval period, have had their lives illustrated in words and pictures as well as becoming the subject of school banners.
The Heritage Heads club is now firmly established in the school, with future projects including research into the history of Hebburn Town Football Club.
Pupil Shannon Baxter,13, president of the lunchtime club, said: “ Heritage Heads is fun and helps you understand your history and where we come from.”
The project has also seen younger pupils working with sixth form students and members of Jarrow and Hebburn Local History Society.
Young and old recently came together at Bede’s World, where pupils and adult historians feasted on Anglo-Saxon food and listened to traditional music.
Rob Hope, who runs the lunchtime club at St Joseph’s, said:”This project was generally led by the students’ interests and grew in scope as we progressed. The inter-generational aspects of Heritage Heads worked particularly well and participants benefited from this. The fact that all this work was done within lunchtime periods is a massive testimony to the dedication of these young people and it has certainly made them think about how history and heritage is accessible to them everyday in the names of districts, streets, pub signs and local landmarks. During behind the scene visits to Beamish, they discovered how the heritage industry works and the fact they had fun while doing it is a major bonus.”
The ‘Hearts and Minds’ programme aims to help 12 different school communities across the country to investigate their local heritage. The programme is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the sum of £515,000. This national programme, managed by Learning through Landscapes is encouraging over 6000 young people to find out more about what heritage means to them.
For further details please contact; Project Officer: Sara Caines Tel: 0191 3739799. E-mail: s.caines100@durhamlea.org.uk
