One Square Mile: Heritage on our Doorstep was awarded £62,500 of funding by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing St John’s Green Primary School to launch and deliver the project. As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.  Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.   The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.  The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.  www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Colchester Archaeological Trust’s role in the project has been to educate students on archaeological sites in the local vicinity, with a particular emphasis on archaeology uncovered at St John’s Green School through our excavations, and Colchester’s Roman Circus, which is within close walking distance. To do this, Colchester Archaeological Trust staff have conducted talks and object handling sessions at St John’s Green School, given tours at the Roman Circus Visitor Centre, provided an exhibition of Colchester’s town walls which was displayed at the school, and advised teachers on their different archaeological topics. This has been an amazing collaboration, which we hope to see continue.

Colchester Museums supported the project by providing research into the collections, expertise, advice and specialist training for the teachers, Historian and Project Manager. They supported teachers’ research and delivery in the classroom by developing a specialist One Square Mile area on the Museum’s website. Our topic research has been supported by pupils visiting the Castle and Hollytrees Museums. We are honoured to be able to showcase the Charles Debenham Siege paintings at our school.

The Essex Record Office provided professional advice and support with the archive and oral history interviews. They carried out the digitisation of the historic records of the school, and arranged for teachers from the school to make a professional development visit to the ERO to develop research skills and increase their knowledge of the use of historical sources. At the end of the project, the historic archives currently held at the school as well as the oral history recordings created during the project will be deposited at ERO. This will ensure the long-term preservation, and continuing access for research, of the interviews and other records.

Colchester Recalled supported the oral history aspect of the One Square Mile project. They shared recordings from their archive to help the teachers and pupils understand about the school’s past. The Secretary Patrick Denney worked closely with the school, delivering a series of training sessions in oral history recording, transcribing and editing with a team of parent and pupil volunteers. The pupils went on to deliver a talk for Colchester Recalled members, who were highly impressed by their confidence in talking about their experiences of recording oral histories.

Colchester Civic Society members have generously given their time and expertise to this project. From qualified tour guides to expert historians, all who had a wealth of knowledge which they shared with teachers, pupils and the project team. They signposted us to experts and opened many doors, including enabling the pupils to visit St Giles Church. They supported our research, shared information from their social media channels, and supported us at events. We are grateful for all their support and for the opportunity to present the project outcomes to members at their AGM.

Colchester Garrison explored with pupils the most recent history of the Garrison dating from 1999 and the forming and basing in Colchester of 16 Air Assault Brigade at the new Super Garrison called Merville Barracks. It’s been a unique opportunity and relatable research topic to also share the history of airborne forces who 16 Brigade trace their history back to. The pupils were invited to Merville Barracks for an insight day where they learnt about the WW2 Battle of the Merville Gun Battery on D-Day, that saw paratroopers from the 9th (Essex) Parachute Battalion capture the guns that covered Sword Beach. In 2006 the barracks was named after this battle. They also learnt about the WW2 Battle of Arnhem and Colchester’s Bond of Friendship with the Dutch district of Renkum where the battle took place by completing a military history trail walk in Castle Park.