Historic England Selects Middlesbrough School for New Heritage Award
Historic England has selected Breckon Hill Primary School in Middlesbrough for a prestigious new Champion Heritage School Award. This is in recognition of its commitment and excellence in teaching pupils about their local heritage.
The school is one of only eight across the country to receive the accolade and was chosen on account of the inspiring work it has undertaken through Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme.
Through this programme, Breckon Hill Primary School worked with The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum to create an exhibition in the school about the life of the famous explorer and his links to Middlesbrough.
The exhibition included a dressing up area, a lemon juice tasting station to prevent scurvy, artwork from Hawaii and New Zealand, as well models of ships and telescopes.
This exhibition inspired both teachers and pupils to explore local heritage further across a variety of subjects and led to the successful completion of the Heritage Schools Award. This is given by Historic England to schools that have supported pupils to better understand their local heritage and its importance.
As a Champion Heritage School, Breckon Hill Primary School will work with Historic England over the coming year to pilot a new school-led scheme. This is aimed at highlighting the importance of local heritage and how it can be integrated into a range of subjects. As part of the award, the school will receive £1,000 to support this work.
As this is the first year of Champion Heritage Schools, teachers and pupils at the school will play a key role in shaping the scheme’s activities and its future development.
Such activities could include testing new local heritage education resources, developing a panel of young heritage ambassadors and sharing best practice in heritage teaching.
I’m really looking forward to working with Breckon Hill Primary School over the next year to shape and deliver this new scheme. They are thoroughly deserving of Champion Heritage School status and will serve as an inspiration to other schools looking to incorporate local heritage into their curriculum.
