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First Steps to your Heritage had a number of aims:
. To consider the nature and importance of heritage
· To engage and enthuse primary school children about their heritage and to research and explore an aspect of heritage.
· To consider the process of school grounds development and how to express heritage in your outdoor space
· To share the outcomes and experiences of this project with other schools across Scotland through a website, the development of a heritage focused CPD training course for and related events and seminars.
The project focused on six primary schools across Perth and Kinross with each school benefiting from funding to cover resources, travel to sites of interest and fees of external professionals. Each school was supported throughout their project by a Grounds for Learning facilitator.
At the start a member of staff from each school attended a training course to explore the theme of heritage. This has been revised to take into account the outcomes of the project and the experiences of the six schools and is now available to other schools across Scotland. Contact smoizer@ltl.org.uk to find out more
Each of the six primary schools (rural and urban, large and small) chose the aspect of heritage they wanted to explore and, within that, what the theme would be. Schools established a specific heritage pupil group to drive the project forward, but there were always opportunities throughout the project for the whole school community to become involved. Download case studies about the schools.
Activities undertaken were wide ranging and varied, but all had the common aim of engaging the children with their heritage, improving the school grounds and involving the wider school community.
Although the schools involved were able to access funding heritage is all around us and there are lots of individuals and organisations available to help children and young people engage with it. Investigation into the history of your school, your local village, individual stories, memories, photographs and local biodiversity is all free, provides a rich theme for inspiration and a wealth of cross curricular links. Download activity sheets to carry out your own heritage investigation
For more information about the First Steps into Your Heritage project, the outcomes, experiences and resources generated, and the ways in which Grounds for Learning might support you with your school grounds heritage project, please contact smoizer@ltl.org.uk at Grounds for Learning on 01259 220887.
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