Heritage Schools Evaluation 2019-2020

Case study: Stories of Lynn and the Heritage Education Network (HEN), King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Background to the Heritage Education Network

Stories of Lynn comprises the museum of the history of King’s Lynn, the Gaolhouse and the borough archives. The Learning and Engagement Officer at Stories of Lynn convenes the Heritage Learning Forum, which has been running for a number of years and is attended by representatives from all the cultural heritage venues in the town, the library and the planning and conservation departments of the borough council.

The Heritage Learning Forum already had good connections with the local schools and the Town Guides. In 2017, the Learning and Engagement Officer at Stories of Lynn invited Kate Argyle, the Heritage Schools Local Heritage Education Manager to join the Forum. In 2019 the Heritage Learning Forum set up the Heritage Education Network to enable schools to be more involved in local heritage and to encourage more school visits to their venues.

Three Heritage Education Network days were held in 2019/20, attended by 41 teachers from 16 schools including one Secondary school. Heritage Schools provided funding for supply cover for the participating schools, so that the teachers could attend.

HEN teachers at King’s Lynn Minster Slide from CPD presentation

The meetings took place in different heritage venues so that the teachers could find out what they offer, and the LHEM delivered training on how to use local heritage to teach across the curriculum: using historic photographs and maps, creating a heritage trail, developing chronological understanding and enquiry-based approaches, using local heritage to teach the period from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, including Norfolk Heritage Explorer (http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/), an abridged version of the Norfolk Historic Environment Record.

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Slide from HEN presentation, Teaching the Stone Age to the Iron Age

“Through the work that has been done by the leaders of the meeting I have been able to access parts of the town that are not normally allowed. The stories that have been told whilst participating has made me realise how much there is to get from what is on the doorstep. There are clear opportunities for cross curricular links as well, especially within the Humanities faculty, with links to Geography and the history of the town relating to the floods in this century.” (Head of Humanities, King’s Lynn Academy)

“I was able to introduce my children to the ‘Norfolk Heritage Explorer’ website. They were fascinated by the fact that they could see what had been discovered near to where they lived and this led to many discussions about the time period that the finds represented. This interest was due entirely to the ‘local’ nature of the finds.” (Head of History, Eastgate Academy)

The lunch breaks for each HEN day were held at different historic buildings, such as Bank House, now a hotel, where Elizabeth Fry used to stay when visiting her daughter.

“Even lunch broadens people’s horizons.” (Learning and Engagement Officer, Stories of Lynn)

A Scroll Through Lynn

As part of King’s Lynn’s Heritage Action Zone and Townscape Heritage Initiative, funded by Historic England, local artist Nicola Marray-Woods created artwork for a mural about the history of the town covering the period from 1204, when King John granted a charter to the town, to the present day. The artist wanted to find a way to make the artwork available to schools. At a meeting in 2018 of King’s Lynn Heritage Learning Forum, the idea of presenting the drawings of people, buildings and events as a scroll (as the statue of King John in King’s Lynn shows him holding a scroll) was born, and Historic England’s Heritage Schools Programme provided a grant of £3500 which has enabled the project to develop. The artist redrafted her original ideas into a scroll (measuring 297mm x 2000mm), copies of which have been given to the local schools who attended the Heritage Education Network days and which can be bought by other schools for £20. The artist and the LHEM created supporting information on all the buildings, boats, events and people featured in the scroll, which the teachers can use in school.

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The Scroll at the Stories of Lynn

“The resources that we have been provided with are wonderful, the Scroll in particular caused quite a stir at my school. The resources are all very practical and accessible on memory sticks to be used or adapted for use as we wish.” (Humanities Co-ordinator, South Wootton Infants)

The artists and teachers have run workshops about A Scroll Through Lynn for the pupils in their schools. The Learning and Engagement Officer at Stories of Lynn ran intergenerational art workshops based on the scroll in the museum, involving children from local schools and U3A members. Some of the schools had planned to take part in Enriching the List1 with the work their students produced about Listed Buildings in King’s Lynn, but this has been postponed until schools can re-open after the Covid-19 restrictions are eased.

Other young people’s groups have also taken the scroll as inspiration for their photographic and art projects. For example, Stories of Lynn’s Kick the Dust group made a photo journey from their college to the Stories of Lynn, looking at historic buildings on the route. Young people from YMCA, one of the Kick the Dust partners, have made artworks inspired by Andy Warhol’s work and exhibited them in the King’s Lynn Festival.

1 Enriching the List is one of the programmes Heritage Schools has developed to encourage pupils to add information to the listings of buildings which are already Listed as having special architectural or historic interest: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/enrich-the-list/

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A Heritage Schools Grant enabled a play to be commissioned by the Time Will Tell Theatre Company, based on A Scroll Through Lynn. It was performed at the Town Hall in January 2020 to local Primary schools, Year 8s at King’s Lynn Academy, and to a general adult audience. This was an opportunity for the children and young people to experience live theatre, which they might not normally be able to do. The company has visited local schools to run drama workshops and perform the play to more young people from the town.

“The feedback that students gave was very positive as the actors involved brought the history of the town to life in an interesting and intriguing way. The staff who accompanied the students commented on how well it was done and that even though some of them had been in the area their whole lives there were parts which they had never heard about. The fact that this play is complimented by the illustrated scroll helps to provide a reminder to those who went about this experience. It is also a way of engaging other students with their local history.” (Head of Humanities, King’s Lynn Academy)

Outcomes for Stories of Lynn

Working with Heritage Schools has enabled the Learning and Engagement Officer to develop her knowledge of the heritage of King’s Lynn, and she has learned skills such as using historic maps, creating timelines to put historical events into a wider context, and how to Enrich the List. The Learning and Engagement Officer has been able to provide schools’ contacts to the LHEM and Heritage Schools has provided funding to support the Heritage Education Network and developing A Scroll Through Lynn into a resource for schools.

Slides from the HEN presentation on teaching chronology

Before setting up the Heritage Education Network, Stories of Lynn already worked with many young people’s groups but wanted to strengthen the relationship with local schools and increase the number of schools visiting. The Heritage Education Network, set up with the help of the LHEM, has achieved this with 200 Year 7 pupils from King’s Lynn Academy taking part in a one-day, three-venue visit to Stories of Lynn, King’s Lynn Minster and Lynn Museum. The borough archives, kept at Stories of Lynn, provide easy access to primary sources which Secondary students can use, and which would be difficult to obtain from other places. The quality of the CPD provided by the LHEM has been instrumental in the increasing number of schools taking part in the Heritage Education Network:

“[The LHEM] has excellent knowledge; she can engage people in different ways, understands how schools work; flexibility. It’s credible CPD – teachers know its quality so more people come back. [The LHEM] makes resources easily available to take away and use. People trust her, know she’s walked

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the walk, so trust her when she talks the talk. There’s a wealth of information for Primary teachers who may not be good historians.” (Learning and Engagement Officer, Stories of Lynn)

The Heritage Education Network has resulted in heritage sites working together to provide school visits, and more schools taking up these opportunities. For example, South Wootton Infants School and King’s Lynn Academy have both made a visit to Stories of Lynn and the Museum of Lynn:

“I hadn’t thought about a split site visit before but we have now had two such days with our Year Two children and both the staff and children were buzzing with the experiences and knowledge they left with on those days. The HEN days inspired us to have a trip in our close locality and we shall continue to do so.” (Humanities Co-ordinator, South Wootton Infants)

“[The learning officers at Stories of Lynn and the Museum of Lynn] hosted all 200 Year 7s in both venues across the day to provide 10 workshops on medieval life. This was extremely complementary of the work that had been done in school and served to provide all of the students with an opportunity to learn outside of the classroom. This I would like to become an annual event.” (Head of Humanities, King’s Lynn Academy)

Outcomes for the Heritage Education Network

HEN teachers visiting Hampton Court, a 14C merchant’s house

The Heritage Education Network continues to grow, with eight teachers attending the first meeting and a total of 41 attending the three meetings which have been held to date. The Learning and Engagement Officer at Stories of Lynn commented that as well as an opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, resources and contacts, the HEN meetings provide space for teachers to think about the possibilities for using local heritage in their teaching. It is noteworthy that this “thinking space” created by Heritage Schools CPD sessions was also cited by the teacher interviewed for the Rotherham Re- imagined case study.

“The fact that in King's Lynn there is a dedicated group of people who have the support of Historic England to deliver well planned and resourced sessions to a range of teaching staff is fantastic. The opportunities that have opened up as a result for my students are superb and I am looking forward

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to continuing to be a part of this group and working closely with them to help deliver more of this on a regular basis.” (Head of Humanities, King’s Lynn Academy)

“In today’s educational climate where there is a much greater emphasis on subject knowledge and a knowledge-based curriculum as well as the need to consider the children’s ‘cultural-capital’ (in which an understanding of children’s heritage is ‘key’) I feel that the ‘HEN’ is a vital resource and I would wholeheartedly recommend that it should continue.” (Head of History, Eastgate Academy)

The Learning and Engagement Officer is keen that the Heritage Education Network continues, with the support of Heritage Schools. There are plans that future Network meetings will include presentations by archivists and archaeologists, to extend teachers’ knowledge in these areas.

“The teachers have been thrilled, they have learned such a lot at HEN. It’s special to get people out [of school] and talking about History and Geography and cultural heritage.” (Learning and Engagement Officer, Stories of Lynn)

King’s Lynn Library, slide from HEN presentation

The Heritage Learning Forum members have also benefitted from the Heritage Education Network because it has encouraged schools to visit more heritage sites. Some of the teachers were not previously aware that they could take their pupils to use the archives or the library, or that it was possible to visit some other heritage sites:

“I have been so inspired by possible future trips such as to the library, I had no idea we could take the children there, to the archives in Stories of Lynn, to St Nicholas and St Margaret’s church and so many others.” (Humanities Co-ordinator, South Wootton Infants School)

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Outcomes for schools

Fishing in the Wash: people and events illustrations from A Scroll Through Lynn

The Heritage Education Network days have enabled teachers to find out a great deal of new knowledge about King’s Lynn and the heritage providers in the town, whether teachers are new to the area or have taught here for many years:

“Having started working in King's Lynn from Easter 2019 and not originally being from the area I have found these sessions completely fascinating. As a History teacher at a secondary school to be able to understand what is available locally has made a real difference to what can be provided to the students at my school.” (Head of Humanities, King’s Lynn Academy)

“I absolutely love the HEN days, they are unique in all the best ways. I have lived in King’s Lynn for 17 years and I really had no appreciation of its historical value before I went on these days with Kate Argyle. I have learnt so much and I am now constantly sharing it with my friends, family and colleagues. I can honestly say that in my twenty four years of teaching I have never been on any kind of course that has inspired me as much as the HEN days have or which have given me such a wealth of information and resources right on my door step. We have been taught how to be historians.” (Humanities Co-ordinator, South Wootton Infants School)

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Some of the Heritage Education Network schools are incorporating Heritage Schools knowledge and resources, and connections made through the Heritage Education Network, to revise their curriculum planning:

“At the moment, I am reviewing the curriculum for History at our school and preparing medium term plans for each year group. I am so pleased that I have the experience of the ‘HEN’ to draw on and feel that I am much more able to effectively represent local history and heritage. I also feel that I have a much wider support network to draw on than I had before. Being curriculum lead for both history and geography, it is remarkable how much more supported I feel with history compared to geography.” (Head of History, Eastgate Academy)

St Edmund’s Primary Academy in King’s Lynn is closing and moving to another site, and the LHEM has provided maps and photographs for the two sites so that the pupils can carry out a whole-school project about the school’s former and new locations, with each year group studying a different decade.

Some of the other schools which are taking part in the Heritage Education Network plan to do further projects with the LHEM once normal school arrangements resume after the Covid-19 restrictions.

Summary

A Scroll Through Lynn was originally created as street art for the Heritage Action Zone, and the Heritage Schools funding has enabled the artist to repurpose the artwork. This, along with the supporting material provided by the LHEM can now be used by local teachers to teach local history.

The collaboration between Heritage Schools and Stories of Lynn, along with the other members of the Heritage Learning Forum, to set up the Heritage Education Network has been of great benefit to the heritage providers and to the teachers who have attended the HEN meetings. The training provided by the LHEM has enabled the teachers and the staff at the museums and other heritage organisations to develop skills in teaching history, geography and the built environment. The teachers have found out more about what the heritage organisations can provide for their pupils, and as a result more schools are making visits to them. The teachers have received Heritage Schools resources (including historic maps and aerial photographs centred on their school, how to use the Historic Environment Record, how to Enrich the List, etc) which they can use in their schools.

“It has been great to have [the LHEM] at these meetings as she has added valuable insight into what is available. The material that she has provided has been a welcome resource as the local maps and photographs, to name just a few parts, help to add the context required to the topics. I firmly believe that she is an integral part as to why these meetings have worked so well. (Head of Humanities, King’s Lynn Academy)

The Heritage Learning Forum and the teachers are keen that the Heritage Education Network meetings should continue as a forum for sharing learning about the town, and plans are in place for archivists and archaeologists to provide specialist training when the HEN meetings can resume.

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