Year 8 students from Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School have taken part in a ‘My Town’ town trail activity around Ramsgate.
The aim of the two day exploration last week was for students to learn a little bit more about some of the amazing history on their doorstep and to come up with a creative response to one of eight locations throughout the town, with the chance to have their work featured in the free Useeum visitor app for Ramsgate.
The trip started with a trip to the Ramsgate Tunnels and a guided walk and workbook which picked out the Ramsgate Obelisk, the Channel Dash and Little Ship memorials, Sanger’s Amphitheatre, the Canadian Hospital, Mary Townley’s house and the Duke of Wellington’s accommodation during the Napoleonic wars.
Students then had just a couple of hours to create content for the app with the best of the best being selected for inclusion on the trail.
Project co-ordinator Mrs Cackett said: “There was a real buzz amongst the students and I’m thrilled with how well each day went. The creativity and the range of their ideas was amazing and featured wall displays and original artwork alongside poetry, pop-up models, rap videos, songs, radio plays and television style documentaries to name a few.
“Students really engaged with the various locations and were really keen to ask questions and find out more as we moved from one site to the other.
“The original idea was to take just one response for each location but in the end we decided to combine different pieces together so that we could share more of their work. We could have created a separate app for the Ramsgate Tunnels as there were lots of great responses for this location alone, the students really enjoyed the tours and came back with so much information.
“The competition element gave the project an extra buzz as students strived to produce their best work and some even continued through their lunch hour or finished pieces off at home so that it would be ready for submission.
“To have the freedom to experiment and take risks without worrying about marks or meeting assessment criteria was a liberating experience for teachers and pupils alike.
“A massive thank you to the students but also to colleagues who volunteered their time to make this possible.”
The ‘winning’ entries can be seen this summer on the Useeum app which can be downloaded for free from either Google Play, the App Store or by scanning the attached QR code. Once you’ve downloaded the app open the ‘Ramsgate’ profile and scroll down to ‘My Town’.
