'Write on Fareham' involved the Hampshire Record Office working in partnership with Westbury Manor Museum and local children’s’ author Judy Waite to deliver exciting, fun and informative education sessions to Key Stage 1 and 2 children in three primary schools in the Fareham district.
The project used the interpretation of museum objects and archival documents in a broader local history context, as a stimulus for developing the children’s’ own creative writing skills.
Four topics – The Victorians, World War Two, The Workhouse and Porchester Castle 1798 (a local historic site) were developed jointly by the museum, record office and Judy Waite, an author. From the core needs, Judy Waite developed creative writing exercises that would develop character empathy, stretch the imagination through brainstorming and role play, and help the children to grow in confidence in terms of their own ideas.
Six sessions were held in each school, led by Judy Waite with a balance of involvement from Julie Biddlecombe, Westbury Manor Museum and David Bond, Education Officer, Hampshire Record Office. The museum and record office produced resource packs. Each of the projects involved had a balance of activities, including “thinking”, “writing” and “doing”.
The project concluded in each school with a roundup session with the project team. This provided an opportunity for the children to feedback to the team and read out parts of their work. This allowed for a question and answer session where children could ask the team about the project, local history or what their jobs entailed.
The project was evaluated using the Inspiring Learning for All Generic Learning Outcomes.
Aim
Overall Project Aims
• to encourage diverse new audiences in social history by producing contemporary literature and art with the aid of a writer in residence in response to museum and archive collections
• to open up alternatives routes into museum and archives collections
• to inspire people to explore and learn about local history and heritage
• to provide a model and platform for producing literature and art using local studies collections
Local Project Aims
• to strengthen links between the County museum service and record office by providing a cohesive approach to outreach
• to make schools in the Fareham district aware of the potential of the museum and archive collections as a source of creativity as well and information
• to facilitate a project for local schoolchildren that would be informative and educational, whilst also being both challenging and enjoyable
Process
The project took place in three local schools during June and July 2004. The museum and record office had had no previous contact with these schools.
Four topics – The Victorians, World War Two, The Workhouse and Porchester Castle 1798 (a local historic site) were developed jointly by the museum, record office and Judy Waite, an author. From the core needs, Judy Waite developed creative writing exercises that would develop character empathy, stretch the imagination through brainstorming and role play, and help the children to grow in confidence in terms of their own ideas.
Six sessions were held in each school, led by Judy Waite with a balance of involvement from Julie Biddlecombe, Westbury Manor Museum and David Bond, Education Officer, Hampshire Record Office. The museum and record office produced resource packs. Each of the projects involved had a balance of activities, including “thinking”, “writing” and “doing”.
The project concluded in each school with a roundup session with the project team. This provided an opportunity for the children to feedback to the team and read out parts of their work. This allowed for a question and answer session where children could ask the team about the project, local history or what their jobs entailed.
Impact and outcome
94% of the pupils felt that they had actually learned something new during the project, and that many said it had given them ideas for things to do as a result of their learning experience. The fact that 80% said they had understood most of what they saw and did supports the approach taken by the project team.
Pupil’s comments included:
“I enjoyed learning about the French prisoners. I also enjoyed learning about the pipes in Porchester. I learnt lots about history and writing stories”. Gemma, Year 4
“all the amazing artifacts that we saw and I actually learned something which was good”. Peter, Year 5
“what amazed me most was me writing a story because I never know I could do it”. Kyle, Year 4
“I couldn’t believe how I came up with such a great story because normally I don’t like writing stories”. Naomi, Year 4
The teachers agreed unanimously that the project has worked well for them despite, timetabling pressures. Their comments included:
“It’s the bones of good practice really. It just makes me realize how much we’ve come away from doing the things that we know are actually right for developing children’s learning: role play; real artifacts, experts coming in; all those things, and I think this project combined all of them in a very effective way. And I think it was strong because those three elements were there, particularly the writer. That was the lynchpin really.” Mark, Head Teacher
“to have a real author in the classroom was amazing and if we could do more of that it would be brilliant”. Sam, class teacher
“The project was very good for my class. The history was brought to life…..Some different approaches to stimulate writing”. Class teacher
Evaluation
The project met its key aims and succeeded the partner’s expectations.
Working with schools: It was clear that all participants found the project a real success. A good relationship has been built with 2 of the 3 schools making arrangements to work with the museum and archive in the next academic year.
Working between archive and museum: The project demonstrated how the archive and museum collections can support local history topics. Excellent working relationships were established with will inform future collaboration.
Working with an author: This brought a fresh perspective and a new dimension to the project which helped to liberate the collections from the constraints of conventional interpretation.
Written results: The children’s stories demonstrate that the collections can be used to capture imagination and inspire creative writing. The stories will be used by the museum and archive in future interpretation and are available to view at http://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/write-on-fareham/
Project website [1]:
www.hants.gov.uk/rh/write-on-fareham/
Case Studies