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There is nothing nicer for a teacher to see than a group of
students that she works with smiling with success. This was a
situation that I recently found myself in. In January 2002 I
asked a group of four students from my school whether they would
like to take part in a Local History competition being run
nationally by English Heritage and the History Channel. The four
girls were each from different year groups, Yr. 7, 8, 9 and 10,
and had a wide range of academic ability.
I explained that the competition would involve a vast amount of
research, extra work at home, fund raising, photography and a
lot of writing. I was really enthusiastic about the project, and
I hope it was my enthusiasm which encouraged them to become part
of a five strong team that became known as the 'Weatherhead Hip
Historians'.
I made it clear from the start that the team would be a
democracy as I wanted the girls to develop decision making
skills and not just rely upon my input. This idea was
immediately seized upon as made a group decision to base our
research around the involvement of our school, Weatherhead High
School, to the Wallasey home front war effort during the Second
World War. This topic was particularly poignant for the team as
we will be moving to brand new premises in September 2003 and
future generations of pupils would miss out on the historic feel
of the school and the signs of bomb damage that still exists
today. The eventual aim of the project was to research and write
a booklet called 'WHS at War'.
Once the decision was made about project topic the girls flew
into action. If we were going to write the booklet then we
needed material and documents about the school during war time.
We believed that our best chance for success was to ask former
pupils for information, memories and articles. The older half of
the team wrote a variety of articles, or pleas for help, that
were published in the local newspapers, on the school website
and in the school magazine 'Weather Report'. The two youngest
team members very bravely spoke in assemblies, where they asked
for help from their fellow classmates. I spoke up in the
staffroom and posted flyers asking for help all around the
school - quite clearly I was going to have to work as hard as
the girls were.
Almost overnight we were inundated with offers of help. Former
teachers, past pupils and people with relatives who attended the
school all wrote in with kind offers of help from all over the
country. We received detailed letters about bomb attacks on the
school, recollections of evacuation to Abergavenny in
Monmouthshire. Former pupils also came into school and allowed
themselves to be interviewed by pupils. One of the most valuable
discoveries was the school archives that had remained unused if
not hidden from general use. With kind help from the parent of
one of our Yr. 10 pupils, Mrs Barnes, we were able to discover
and scan a wealth of photographs, school magazines and even a
letter from Clementine Churchill.
In just a matter of weeks the amount of information that we had
amassed was massive and very daunting. Each of us had letters,
e-mails and original documents to read in detail and make notes
about. I felt overwhelmed and knew that the girls did as well.
With the kind help of my colleagues and the girls' parents we
read, reread and at times deciphered the information that we had
been sent. Until finally we made the decision to write ten
chapters in the booklet and each of us would be responsible for
two of those chapters, including me.
Meeting fortnightly we would read over each others work, offer
constructive criticism and then go our separate ways. I was
constantly impressed with the girl's commitment to the project
and the friendship that started to develop between them. I was
incredibly proud of the effort that they put into research and
writing. They even gave up parts of their holidays to work on
the booklet with me on Inset Days - it was only fair for me to
be official drinks, chocolate and crisps provider during these
busy times. After a number of drafts and redrafts we felt that
we had a completed booklet worthy to be published - but we never
had any idea about the surprise prepared by Mr Boston,
Deputy Headteacher, and Miss Davies, Headteacher, for us. They
felt that since the quality of the booklet was so good we should
have it published professionally. It is only fair to say that we
were 'gobsmacked' and overjoyed when the finished booklets
arrived at school on the last day of the summer term. From a
personal point of view the preparation of the booklet left me
with my first few grey hairs.
We left for the summer holidays on a high, having completed the
booklet, packaged up the research and sent it off to the
competition and with 250 professionally printed booklets. I was
proud of the girls and felt that we had achieved something very
significant even if we did not win the actual competition.
On the 1st September 2002 I received an e-mail from English
Heritage informing me that the 'Weatherhead Hip Historians' had
achieved first place in the 11-16 category of the 'Our History
Your Heritage' competition. We had won a digital camcorder,
various goody bags from the History Channel and English Heritage
and a certificate for taking part. I am not ashamed to say that
I cried when I read the e-mail, for these four girls deserved to
win. They had worked really hard, written well and given up so
much of their own time for this project. I can honestly say that
I was the teacher most keenest to return to work on the 3rd
September and being able to deliver this good news to four of
the brightest and most amazing pupils that I have ever taught
will be a memory that will stay with me forever.
Well done 'Hip Historians'.
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