In the behind the scenes, we will show the significance of the project and give updates on what the young people are learning!
Education is not just about textbooks and classrooms; it is an experience that shapes our lives and the communities we belong to. The Through Our Eyes Heritage Project aims to bring history to life by giving school children the chance to delve into the rich heritage of their own schools. By exploring the past, pupils can gain a deeper appreciation for their schools and develop a stronger sense of identity.
Week 1
Our first session was on 18th of May. Year 6 started the project by brainstorming the different ways they could try to learn about the history of their school. The most popular ideas were to read books, look online or in archives, and to talk to people personally.
Research began shortly after by referring to the school's original logbooks. They were then shown two pictures of Old Bexley C of E Primary School, one old and one new, and attempted to spot as many differences as they could.
The children then had an enthusiastic chat with a teacher and TA that used to go to the school years earlier to learn more about what school life was like back in the day!
What types of questions could be asked and how to learn more about the school's history was then discussed leading to the exciting possibility of finding a time capsule using a metal detector!
Week 2
Week 2 kicked off with organising the pupils into filming and research crews, before using the school's logbooks to consider the similarities and differences between their school in the present day, as opposed to in WWII.
Each class was asked various key questions such as:
How many pupils were at the school each year?
How did the subjects they were taught compare to what you are taught now?
This was followed shortly by each class creating shooting scripts that will be used later in the project, as well as a practice drill!
Week 3
Each class visited Bexley Archivist, Oliver Wooller, at Bexley Council Archives this week! Oliver introduced the archives in a sensitive way and spoke about how archives and records are kept, as well as the ways the children could use the archives in their research.
Next the children worked in groups to look at hard drives full of images of Bexley and their school, as well as looking at physical props including a replica cane!
The questions asked by all the children were rich and varied, including:
“If the books are so old, why are they in such good condition?”
This session really caught the attention of the children, who are fascinated with discovering and engaging in the mysteries of the past!
Weeks 4-6
During weeks 4-6, we repeated the first three sessions with the other two year 6 classes, working with 120 pupils in total this term.
Week 7
All the classes had a filming session during the day on 6th July. The groups worked brilliantly organised into mini e2e Crews; everyone really enjoyed filming and presenting to camera.
Groups had used their research workshops to write a script including different parts of Old Bexley's rich history. One specific group of children were complimented by their teacher as she had never seen them work so well together, with such confidence. Overall though every group worked incredibly well together.
"We loved being a part of mini e2e crews to film our scripts about the history of our school. One crew also interviewed an alumni visitor and really enjoyed interacting with someone who came to their school 36 years before! A great shared experience that took everyone out of their comfort zones and enabled them to do something new as a team." Old Bexley CE Primary School, Yr 6 Pupils
Our two green sustainability champions worked well to keep our project on track. They were interviewed by our project evaluator too! You can find out more about our sustainability promises here.
When we collected feedback from the pupils, they explained they enjoyed using the cameras and equipment very much. They loved working in small teams where the purpose was recording a narrative for our documentary, saying it made them really concentrate on how they worked as a team. The day was a great success!
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