Persuasion wins the day for pupils
PERSUASIVE pupils from Castle Hill Junior School are today celebrating their role in what could be one of the most important Roman discoveries ever made in Suffolk.
PERSUASIVE pupils from Castle Hill Junior School are today celebrating their role in what could be one of the most important Roman discoveries ever made in Suffolk.
Around two years ago more than 30 pupils at the school deluged Channel Four's Time Team with letters asking them to unearth the history of their surroundings.
Their plea, which was made in a persuasive letter writing lesson, paid dividends this week when a crew from the show arrived to begin excavating in Tranmere Grove, Ipswich.
Headteacher Ruth Hart said: "A couple of years ago, our year six pupils were doing some work around persuasive letter writing and this was combined with some local history work.
"The combination of this, along with a couple of the children being Time Team fans, meant that we sent the letters to the show asking if they would come to our area."
Nothing more was heard about the letters until January this year, when the school received a phone call from Channel Four saying the show would be coming to the area.
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Mrs Hart said: "Someone from Channel Four called to say they were coming in response to the letters sent by the pupils.
"It's great for the pupils because so often they write letters and get no response at all but this has helped bring the curriculum into the real world."
Although the pupils who wrote the letters have now moved on to other schools, Mrs Hart said they had contacted some of them and asked them to "spread the word" about the news.
Karen Kirk, a researcher for the show, confirmed they had responded to the letters from the pupils but said much more detailed investigation had to be carried out before they arrived.
"We received some letters from the pupils asking if we would come down and help them learn about the history of the name of their school, she said.
"We did a lot of research into the area and found out about previous excavations and decided to come down. We're very excited about this site."
