Made in our One Square M le
St John’s Green Primary School by Jack
Made in our One Square Mile
One Square Mile: Heritage on our Doorstep has been an amazing two year project at St John’s Green Primary School in Colchester. Exploring the rich heritage in the one square mile around our school gave us the opportunity to develop a brand-new history curriculum. We created this booklet to celebrate the outcomes we have made in our one square mile over the last two years. This booklet encompasses the wealth of experiences that St John’s Green Primary School has savoured...
From researching Colchester’s heritage and the school’s archive with project historian Claire Driver, to drawing and sculpting with project artist Nicola Burrell. From developing characters with illustrator Nick Butterworth, to weaving in forest school. From creating our own plague masks and chariots, to writing a brand-new school song. From exploring the past through dress-up and role play to re-enacting Colchester’s siege with Rebecca Hall, and a whole school Victorian day replete with chalk, slates and some very stern looking Victorian schoolmistresses!
Library visit
Abstract mapofour heritage locations
The project began with a series of professional development sessions for our teachers, empowering them to confidently take their new learning into the classroom and begin to research and develop our new history curriculum. The professional development opportunities included learning skills from our project historian Claire Driver; meeting our expert project supporters; a guided heritage walk with tour guides from Colchester Civic Society; visits to Essex Record Office and Colchester Library to learn how to access and research historical material; object handling sessions; and support from Colchester Museums and Colchester Archaeological Trust.
St John’s Green Primary School Teaching staff,
2023–2024
Nicola Burrell’s drawing for children
Nicola Burrell, our project artist, taught the teachers the skills of observing and covered the fundamental concepts of drawing by studying the buildings in our one square mile. These concepts included composition, measuring proportions and angles, perspective, observing light, shade and shadow, and looking at materials and texture through mark making. The teachers took these skills back to the classroom, and every class walked to a different heritage site in our one square mile to draw the buildings.
Illustrations by Nicola Burrell
St John’s Green Primary School Teaching staff,
2023–2024
A cardboard city
The one square mile around our school includes landmarks that are ancient and medieval, as well as some that are more modern. Each class used their drawings as inspiration for making sculptures of the heritage sites with Nicola Burrell. This was an exercise in using geometry and construction and to explore space and form: a fun and creative way of tapping into children’s innate spatial, geometric and
Firstsitegallery
The T wo n Hall
All time periods
JumboWaterTower
All year groups,
2023–2024
’sPriory
StBotolph
Jumbo
Supported by our project historian, Claire Driver, each year group researched a period in Colchester’s history. Our EYFS pupils researched Colchester’s Victorian landmark, Jumbo. They learnt how the water tower was constructed, and then enjoyed building their own tower. They investigated some of the basic techniques for making three-dimensional constructions from cardboard. These included cutting, scoring, bending, and sticking.
Roman Circus
Amara
A Roman Circus was uncovered in Colchester in 2000. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries this was the place in Roman Colchester for chariot racing and other spectacles like boxing and maybe even gladiator fights.
Today we can see the starting gates that stood at one end of a racing track. Our Year 1 pupils explored the topic by visiting the Roman Circus Centre, where our supporters, Colchester Archaeological Trust, are based. They enjoyed making their own Roman Circus and chariot.
Year1visiting
Cloth weaving
In the medieval period Colchester was an important wool town manufacturing a woollen cloth called russet. From 1565 Colchester welcomed Protestant refugees from Europe who brought with them new ways of making finer cloths called bays and says. Colchester became particularly well-known for its production of bays. Our Year 2 pupils researched the Flemish settlers and their workshops in what we now call the Dutch Quarter, and they were inspired to try weaving their own cloth.
DutchQuarterhouses
Mural by Henry Collins & Joyce Pallot
Celtic dress up & printmaking
Colchester became an important place in the Iron Age from around 700 BC. It was called Camulodunum and was the capital for the Trinovantes. Our Year 3 pupils visited Colchester Castle Museum and explored history through role play as Iron Age people. They also looked at coins to create their own Celtic marks and prints.
Abstract landmarks
Our Year 4 pupils researched the landmarks around us in Colchester, and learnt how old these are by taking local walks and by looking at historical maps. They created abstract paintings of some of our heritage locations. Can you guess which buildings they are representing in their paintings?
Detail of St John’s Abbey Gate
All time periods Year 4, 2023–2024
Plague masks
When the plague arrived in Colchester in the summer of 1665, over 5000 people died. This was approximately half of Colchester’s population.
‘Bearers’ were employed to take bodies ‘to the ground’ which some people think could be near Mersea Road in our square mile.
At the time not much was known about how the plague was transmitted or what caused it. Many people wore ‘plague masks’ with a beaked nose. Inside the mask, they placed a cloth soaked in a
Rosemary, sage
Year5pupilsinsidetheDakotaaircraft
Colchester has a long history with the military, from the time when a Roman fortress was built and retired Roman soldiers settled in Camulodunum, right up to the modern day. There are 19th, 20th and 21st century garrison buildings visible within our one square mile.
Year 5 classes from St John’s Green Primary School were invited to the Merville Barracks, to commemorate and learn about the 79th anniversary of The Battle for the Merville Gun Battery.
Siege re-enactment
During the English Civil War, Colchester was under siege by Parliamentarian forces led by Sir Thomas Fairfax. Below is one of eight paintings in a series by local artist Charles Debenham which depict the Siege of Colchester.
Our Year 6 pupils enjoyed interpreting the narratives within the paintings, developing careful looking and using expert advice and historical research, to enhance their drawings, writing, and to create a re-enactment.
History club & tour guides
The One Square Mile project also extended into our after school clubs. Our history club learnt how to be tour guides for our heritage open day, the pilot exhibition at school and our project exhibition at the Minories.
A group of our Year 5 pupils were lucky enough to visit the children’s author and illustrator Nick Butterworth at his studio in Colchester where he lives and works. This gave them the incredible opportunity to develop their own tour guide characters and creative writing pieces, who are our ‘digital’ tour guides on the project website.
1. ‘Holly’, Pre-history, illustrated by Ivy 2. ‘Max’, Romans, illustrated by Joshua 3. ‘Sunny and Leo’, Saxons, illustrated by Sunny www.onesquaremilecolchester.co.uk
working withJoshua
NickButterworth
4. ‘Fala’, Post-medieval, illustrated by Flo
5. ‘Comet’, Modern, illustrated by Tia
6. ‘Holly’, Topic explorer, illustrated by Maynee
Oral historians
Our oral history volunteers played an integral role in capturing memories that tell us about staff and pupils’ experiences at the school through the ages. Patrick Denney, from Colchester Recalled, supported staff, pupils and parents in developing their skills for interviewing, transcribing and editing recordings. To enable these memories to be shared with future generations they will be deposited at the Essex Record Office sound archive and the Colchester Recalled archive at the University of Essex.
Kedja and Miss Gisby during the oral history training session
Oral history transcript
Interviewer Jasmine Martin
Interviewee Marion Murray
Place of interview St John’s Green Primary School
Date of interview 20.11.2023
Date of transcription 17.12.2023
Transcribed by Jasmine Martin & Amy Li
JM What time did the school day start and finish?
MM Ooh, I think it started around nine o’clock in the morning and finished around probably, half three in the afternoon.
JM Can you describe your first day at St John’s Green?
MM I can’t remember a lot about it because I had already been to Hamilton Road which was the infant school so it was very much with another school, different building which took a bit of getting used to but other than that, it wasn’t very different, I can’t really remember.
We just all went as a group.
JM How far away did you live from school?
MM We lived about two and a half, three miles away.
JM How did you travel to and from school?
MM Well, in the mornings, my Dad would used to bring me on his Vespa scooter and in the afternoons, I would walk home and at lunchtime I would sometimes go home on the bus.
JM Can you describe the school uniform?
MM We didn’t really have a school uniform which seems pretty strange to you I’d expect, I usually had a grey skirt, a white blouse and a home knitted cardigan. If it was school photographs we wore our best dress.
JM Can you describe the school itself?
MM Its very similar in some ways to what it looks like from the outside now. You’ve still got the shed at the playground, like the covered arch way bit. There’s obviously changes that you have got indoor toilets which we didn’t have, but from the outside it looks very similar.
School portrait and exercise book courtesy Marion Murray
Victorian day
As part of our 125-year celebrations, our pupils have explored what life was like at St John’s Green Primary School when it first opened during the late Victorian period.
They learnt about arithmetic and handwriting using chalkboards; found out about drill; and discovered what was on the cookery and music syllabus. They even changed the classrooms around so the tables were in rows. The children and staff dressed up in Victorian clothes and made it a truly memorable day!
St John’s Green Infants School group 5, circa 1898
Old Colchester and District in pictures via Facebook
St John’s Green Primary School at 125
As part of the celebrations for 125 years of St John’s Green Primary School and our One Square Mile project, our historic archives which are currently held at the school, as well as the oral history recordings which were created during the project, will be deposited at Essex Record Office. This will ensure the long-term preservation of the archive and interviews, continuing access for future generations.
The Best Class, 1927
Ground floor plan, Goodey and Cressall, 1898
A new school song
In the archive there is a reference to a school song, but this was never found. So our project historian Claire Driver worked with music co-ordinator Claire Rowe and the children to write this new song, celebrating all the headteachers and the history of the school.
Excerpt from the first school logbook
In eighteen ninety eight
They built this school
Mrs Taylor and Mr Cheese
The first head teachers of them all
The foundations that they laid
For what we know today
The classrooms twice as full
The children using chalk and slate
We sing it loud, we sing it proud
The head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school
We celebrate your names
Miss Roff and Mr Cheese
Led the school through the war
The teachers served, wrote ration cards Did all they could and more
Next was Mr Alderton
And then came Mr Cox
In 1925 they switched
The lights on with Miss Roff
We sing it loud, we sing it proud, the head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school, we celebrate your names
Mr Everett and then Miss Roff
And later came Miss Cater
Together welcomed evacuees
And built the Morrison shelter
In 1945
Celebration was in the air
3 days off for VE day
And no one had a care
We sing it loud, we sing it proud, The head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school, We celebrate your names
Miss Seagers and Miss Lyas
The last for the split school
In 1961, Mr Stowell Helped combine them all
The infants and the juniors
Now working as one
Swimming, French and summer fayres Enjoyed by everyone
We sing it loud, we sing it proud, the head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school, we celebrate your names
Keeble, Parsons and Durrant
Began to add some more
A new playground and a book shop
Residential trips galore
Mrs Last in her nine years
Saw the Queen come to town
The children waved from the green When she came to town
We sing it loud, we sing it proud, The head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school, We celebrate your names
Mrs Howard next in line
Valued dedication
To St Botolph’s Church they went For their Year 6 celebration
In nineteen ninety eight
The next century
A cedar tree was planted by A Mr Kennedy
We sing it loud, we sing it proud, The head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school, We celebrate your names
Mrs Tarpey led for four years
Mrs Evers for a short time
Then came Mr Billings
Who was next in line
Helping to build Abbey Site
The school evolves and grows
He leads with pride and care
And his passion clearly shows
We sing it loud, we sing it proud, The head’s hall of fame
You left your mark upon this school, We celebrate your names
History has changed this world but some things still remain
The legacy of St John’s Green will live on with its name
About the project
From 2022–2024, to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the school, St John’s Green Primary School worked on the project One Square Mile: Heritage on our Doorstep, researching the incredible heritage sites within one square mile of the school. The project was made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.
This project has enabled our pupils and teachers to work with parents, carers and a range of partners and supporters to preserve the school’s archive for future generations. They have used the archive to research 125 years of the school’s history, re-write the school’s history curriculum and learn new skills such as researching, drawing and making sculptures, and perhaps most importantly, a pride in where we live, work and go to school.
This project would not have been possible without the generosity of our project partners Colchester Archaeological Trust, Colchester & Ipswich Museums, Essex Record Office, Colchester Recalled, Colchester Civic Society, and Colchester Garrison.
Project team
Clare Skinner, Assistant Headteacher
Laura Davison, Project Manager
Teachers and support staff
Claire Driver, Historian
Nicola Burrell, Artist
Patrick Denney, Oral Historian
Joanne Locke, External Evaluator
Adrian Rushton, Photographer
Kate Goodall, Designer
John Royle, Chronicle Storytelling Volunteers
Project steering group
Simon Billings, Headteacher
Tina Bourne, former Deputy Head
Laura Davison, Project Manager
Clare Skinner, Assistant Headteacher
Wendy Poole, Business Manager
Rebecca Reader, PTA Lead
Geoff Beales & Lee Brooker, Chair of Governors
Nicola Roberts, Vice Chair of Governor Shannon Palmer, History Coordinator
You can see more of the project, and explore the heritage sites we have been researching on our project website. Scan the QR code or visit the link below onesquaremilecolchester.co.uk
First published in October 2024 by the One Square
with St
Co-produced by St
by Ex-Why-Zed, a printer located within our one square mile at 37 Queen Street, Colchester.
ISBN: 978-1-3999-9966-3 | © One Square Mile Partnership
Mile partnership
John’s Green Primary School. St John’s Green, Colchester, Essex, CO2 7HE
John’s Green Primary School with Laura Davison, Clare Skinner, Joanne Locke and Claire Driver. Copy edited by Lorraine Sage.
Designed by Kate Goodall. Including illustrations by Nicola Burrell and photography by Adrian Rushton. Typeset in Chivo by Omnibus. Printed