Tuesday 28 February 2012

Northumberland heritage sites move into schools

Schoolchildren will be encouraged to visit important heritage sites across the North East under a new education initiative designed to bring history alive for youngsters.
The Government’s Heritage Schools scheme – launched today by Education Secretary Michael Gove – seeks to use England’s rich island history to inspire children and enhance their learning.

English Heritage will receive £2.7m from the Department for Education to help pupils understand their local history, and how it relates to the national story.

The organisation will use the funding to recruit a team of people with a background in education and history. They will work with groups of schools and use their knowledge and expertise to help teachers harness local heritage as a teaching tool for children.

In the North East, English Heritage manages and maintains a wide range of historic properties which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

They include four properties – Housesteads, Chesters and Birdoswald Roman forts and Corbridge Roman Town – on the 73-mile long Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site which spans almost 2,000 years of history.

Other properties which schoolchildren will be encouraged to visit under the Heritage Schools initiative include Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens, Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island, Warkworth Castle, Brinkburn Priory, Tynemouth Priory, Barnard Castle and Aydon Castle.
Michael Gove said visiting such heritage treasures would bring history alive for children...
You can read the rest of Dave Black's article on this great scheme in the Journal HERE