‘Dig for a Day’ at Bradstow School, Broadstairs
Bradstow School in Broadstairs, formerly a private residence known as Bartrum Gables and later as Valletta House, has a rich archaeological heritage. A large hengiform enclosure, four Bronze Age barrows and a rich Anglo-Saxon cemetery were excavated within the grounds of the school between 1910 and 2006. Bradstow School is a residential specialist school for children with severe learning difficulties and autism, operated by Wandsworth Borough Council.
In April 2009, during an excavation by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology prior to the construction of a sensory swimming pool, a fifth barrow was discovered along with two prehistoric burials and a further Anglo-Saxon grave. The relationship between the Trust and Bradstow School that developed during the excavation grew into the idea for the 'Dig for a Day' event held in June 2009. The staff at the school, led by Headteacher Burt Furze and the Inclusion Development Manager Lorraine Hiller, were excited by the potential to broaden the learning experiences of their pupils through participation in new activities and challenges involving the archaeology of the site. Preparations for the event were funded with a grant awarded by the Education Committee of the Kent Archaeological Society in aid of the Trust's education activities in 2009. The participation of the Trust staff on the day was partly funded by a small grant from the CBA Challenge Fund awarded to Bradstow School.
Dig for a Day took place on the 25th June and enabled over two hundred pupils from 12 schools across Thanet, from both the specialist and mainstream sectors, to participate in archaeological activities organised by the Trust and hosted by Bradstow School. One school from Nonington, Dover also took part. The Trust and Bradstow School staff were assisted over the day by volunteers including members of the Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society, Kent Archaeological Society and staff and a volunteer from Quex Museum.
Six activity zones were set up around the grounds of Bradstow School designed to introduce the children to the basic principles of archaeology. Each visiting school group was taken around the zones by a pupil from Bradstow School acting as a host, assisted by a member of staff.
Zones 1 and 2 were located at the front of the school on the playing field where the first Bronze Age Barrow had been excavated in 1911. It proved to be the ideal spot for an introduction to geophysics and to take part in real survey, especially as we managed to locate and plot the extent of the barrow!
Zones 3 and 4 were located within the site of the recent excavation. In Zone 3, Year 10 pupils from King Ethelbert's Secondary School were able to help excavate a segment of the barrow ditch, while younger pupils from the primary schools were introduced to archaeological excavation by Ges Moody of the Trust, who told them all about the equipment used by archaeologists, the finds made and the importance of Health and Safety!
In zone 4 children were shown how archaeologists distinguish different soil deposits in excavations and had a go at trowelling back soil from an excavation area.
hands-on, or hands in, demonstration of the difference between clays, sands and silts, a slightly mucky process for the willing volunteers! This zone also allowed the children to explore how materials decay or survive using objects placed around a plastic teaching skeleton laid in the emptied Anglo-Saxon grave cut. Demonstration of the differences in body positions between the prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon graves in the excavation to Year 11 pupils from the Royal School for the Deaf resulted in a lively debate in sign language; admirably translated by John Handley, about the belief systems that lay behind the variations.
Zone 5 introduced the children to the principles of stratigraphy, learning how deposits build up over time by constructing their own mini site using clear plastic tanks, 'artefacts' and soils from the recent excavations. In zone 6 the children were shown how to excavate artefacts from the Trust's dig boxes, matching the objects to pictures on identification sheets before describing and illustrating the finds on pre-printed recording sheets. Other activities taking place around the school included mosaic making and pottery. The Trust provided printed examples of mosaics from archaeological sites and large colour photographs of pots excavated on Thanet from the prehistoric to the Anglo-Saxon periods for the children to make their own copies.
The day proved to be a resounding success, comments from the teachers included: 'There were so many activities, all appropriate and well thought out and the children learnt such a lot about archaeology' and 'The people we met were great and interesting and they spoke to the pupils at their level'. More importantly though, the children enjoyed themselves too and every child, regardless of their ability, was able to take some part in an archaeological activity. The children's comments included 'My favourite thing was when we had to look in the sand for bits of old things and I liked it when we saw the real dig'. Perhaps the most effusive summary of the day came from a child who commented 'it was the best school trip ever!' For those running the activities it was an exciting and exhausting day but it was also very rewarding to give so many children from Thanet an opportunity to take part in archaeology and to share the experience with children from very different backgrounds. For the Trust it was a significant occasion in fulfilling our aim of providing opportunities to learn, see and do archaeology in Thanet.
Emma Boast
Trust for Thanet Archaeology