School projects

Building on History - School Project Summary

Many schools in London have fascinating histories, some of which yet to be discovered, and which present exciting learning opportunities for children. In accordance with creative curriculum learning objectives, our school project set out to help pupils learn about the historical relationship between their school, its community and the connected place of worship. The project would also provide pupils with an opportunity to play an active and creative role in preserving and maintaining that history for future students to explore. From such an exploratory engagement with the past, another intended outcome was for pupils to develop a deeper sense of belonging to their school and their local community, and to recognise themselves as important parts of a continuing journey.

Following a mail out to collect expressions of interest, a primary school and a secondary school were selected to work with us in developing such school history projects. Schools were selected with unique histories and heritages from different faith traditions, but with diverse and multi-faith pupil populations. The selected schools were St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Uxbridge, within the Diocese of Westminster and The Urswick Church of England School in Hackney, established in 1520.

These school projects took place in the 2012 Autumn Term. The Building on History team delivered workshops, supported and participated in lessons and fieldwork, and provided guidance and project suggestions, but the results below are down to the creativity and hard work of the teachers and pupils involved.