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n Fig. 1 Stacks of CAT KITs ready to go. n Fig. 2 Teachers using CAT KITs. Canterbury Archaeological Trust celebrates its 30th birthday giving ‘CAT KIT’ to local schools

The Canterbury Working in the In early 2005 the Education ‘Feely Bag’ for added Archaeological Trust’s community Service attracted funding and excitement! Education Service permission to embark on a new prepared handling kits The CAT Education Service hands-on venture - to build Added value! of archaeological objects evolved from a desire to help handling kits of archaeologi- for local schools with local schools meet the re- cal objects for local schools by A further dimension to the support through website quirements of the National utilizing excavated material ‘CAT KIT’ project was the and training sessions for Curriculum and in particular considered to be superfluous creation of new ‘CAT KIT’ teachers. the primary schools, where a to further academic study. The pages on our website (with need for subject knowledge ‘CAT KIT’ project is supported links from the booklet). The n Marion GREEN and teaching resources were by the Heritage Lottery Fund new galleries enable ‘CAT KIT’ Canterbury Archaeological considered to be a priority. The providing valuable resources for investigators to put the frag- Trust, UK Service, run by Marion Green, 55 maintained and independent ments into context - and get has formed partnerships with primary, secondary and spe- some IT practice at the same other local and national edu- cial schools in the Canterbury time. cationalists and together we District (Canterbury city, have facilitated access to the Whitstable, Herne Bay and the The ‘Building Homes’ gal- results of the Trust’s work rural hinterland). lery shows examples of exca- through a variety of means in- vated structures from local cluding publications, specially Tessa Hilder, HLF Regional sites together with colour- designed excavation visits, Manager, said: “HLF is delight- ful reconstruction images teaching, annual events and an ed to have been able to award (executed in-house) of local extensive educational web- Canterbury Archaeological prehistoric, Roman, Anglo- site supported by the National Trust £13,000 to fund the ‘CAT Saxon and medieval buildings Grid for Learning (NGfL). KIT’ project. It is vital that and landscapes based on the archaeological and historical Happy Birthday! children can learn about, access A new educational and enjoy their heritage and evidence. The‘Pots and Pans’ This year is the 30th anni- this project is a fantastic exam- gallery illustrates complete versary of the founding of venture ple of how this is possible”. vessels, their uses and foods Canterbury Archaeological Learning is easier for all of us of the time; it also links to an Trust (CAT), a registered char- when we are motivated and Each kit contains illustrated diary of an experi- ity initially set up to exca- for young people, learning original pottery sherds, vate and survey sites in the through practical activity is a animal bone and building Canterbury district threat- most effective way to literally materials of Iron Age, ened by redevelopment. Three get to grips with new skills and Roman, medieval and post- decades later the Trust has knowledge. For many years medieval date expanded, having ‘rescued’ nu- Ian Coulson, History Adviser a booklet identifying the merous significant sites in the for Kent schools, promoted finds and with teaching county of Kent and in so do- this approach using a port- ideas for the classroom ing, recovered tonnes of mate- able museum carried in an old special pottery measuring rial dating from prehistoric toolbox. It was this idea that chart – as used by n Fig. 3 Brown English earthen- times onward. was adopted for the ‘CAT KIT’. archaeologists ware pottery.

7700 euroREA 3/2006 EDUCATION l

mental kiln firing carried out St Alphege C of E Infant with a local school as part School at Whitstable has of their annual ‘Enrichment been inspired to start an Week’; ‘Boney Bits’ shows ex- Archaeology Club. The club amples of how animal bones leader said “Their inter- have been utilized over the est in archaeology has really centuries to make domes- been wonderful to watch…we tic items and features a horn got out the clay and made a lantern made on site during Roman mosaic…next week we a recent Time Team visit to are acting out a burial! Great Canterbury. stuff!”

Training the troops And “The pupils at Canterbury High thoroughly enjoyed han- In September, a series of spe- dling the different local arte- cial ‘CAT KIT’ training ses- facts… (they) also looked at the sions were held in Canterbury. photographs and reconstruc- Teachers had the opportunity tion pictures that I downloaded to discover the kits for them- from the internet. The pupils selves and their excellent edu- left the session buzzing with en- n Fig. 5 Building an Iron Age pottery kiln. cational potential. Everyone thusiasm for history.” had a lot of fun! Each of them then went away with a ‘CAT We are hopeful of further KIT’, inspired and motivat- feedback as teachers get to ed and the schools will keep grips with their new resource. the kits on permanent loan, The project has the full sup- for use at their convenience. port of the owners of the ob- Contact will be maintained jects, Kent County Council with teachers over the follow- Schools Advisory Service, ing academic year allowing Canterbury Museums and the evaluation of how the kits are Kent Archaeological Society, being used and already, feed- the latter having support- back is coming in. ed the work of the Trust for many years. A teacher from St Philip Howard Catholic Primary For more about the ‘CAT KIT’ School, Herne Bay said: project and the work of the n Fig. 6 The walls of Anglo-Saxon houses were made with wattle “Wanted to say a big THANK Trust see www.canterbury- (woven branches) and daub (clay). YOU from Class MH3…As trust.co.uk soon as I saw the box I was ex- Offrant „CAT KIT“ aux écoles on a local site. Most of her cited. I selected finds that…fit Summary de la région, trust archéologique archaeological experience de Canterbury fête son 30e perfectly with my History/ has been working with finds, anniversaire Creative theme. You gave the Die Archäologische Stiftung Roman pottery in particular. Canterbury schenkt aus Anlass children a first hand experience Le service d‘éducation du trust As Education Officer with ihres dreißigjährigen Bestehens archéologique de Canterbury a that they will always remember, Canterbury Archaeological archäologische Bausätze an été fondé en vue d‘aider les écoles really bringing history to life for örtliche Schulen de la région. Au début de l‘année Trust, she has written them.” 2005, il a obtenu de l‘argent et la educational resources, was Die pädagogische Abteilung permission de démarrer une autre integral to the setting up of der Archäologischen Stiftung activité pratique - élaboration des the CAT website, works with Canterbury entstand durch die ensembles d‘objets archéologiques student teachers and young Nachfrage, die bei örtlichen que les enfants puissent toucher et Schulen bestand. Zu Beginn people and has represented essayer. En plus, on a préparé les des Jahres 2005 erhielt die the Trust both locally and on pages „CAT KIT“ sur le web du pädagogische Abteilung eine European projects. trust pour accompagner l‘usage de finanzielle Förderung und die ces ensembles. Le trust a encore Möglichkeit, neue interaktive organisé un cours pratique pour Bausätze zu archäologischen les maîtres où les derniers ont pu Objekten zu entwickeln, die essayer eux-mêmes ces outils et gleichzeitig auch als neue Rubriken découvrir les possibilités de leur auf der Internetseite der Stiftung utilisation. aufgenommen werden sollten. Besondere Fortbildungen für Lehrkräfte wurden durchgeführt, n Marion Green originally um diesen die Möglichkeit zu trained as a primary school geben, diese Bausätze und ihr teacher but was lured into n Fig. 4 A lantern made from pädagogisches Potenzial kennen Archaeology by a flyer flattened sheaths of horn. zu lernen. asking for volunteer diggers n Fig. 7 The CAT KIT.

3/2006 euroREA 7711