Bishop Monkton Primary School and the Local History Group have announced the launch of a major project to research the history of education in our village. The 'Best Years of our Lives' project will involve detailed research into the history of the school on its present and previous sites but also the story of how education was delivered before formal schools existed. Children will be fully involved in every aspect of the project which is expected to culminate next summer in an exhibition, a film and a book as well as material made available via websites.

The project is a collaboration between Bishop Monkton Primary School and Bishop Monkton Local History Group. Preliminary research has already started and last week members of the Local History Group met with a group of children of different age groups in the school to get their ideas on what the project should prioritise. Detailed research of the school’s own archives and other archive sources will take place over the coming months. There will also be an appeal for stories and material from the village. The history of the school will be one of the children’s history topics within the curriculum during the next academic year.

During the winter months, recording of interviews and the gathering of material will take place. Editing and design will happen in the Spring. Material will be added to both the Local History Group and the school’s website. The aim is to mount an exhibition in the school during the Summer Term next year as well as producing a film and publishing a book.

The project has secured two grants, from the Mukerjee Trust, which supports schools who engage in projects in their communities and the Harrogate Local Fund, which gives money towards projects which foster community development. Members of the Local History Group involved in the project will all work as volunteers but the grants will enable the project to make use of professional camera operators and editors, exhibition design specialists and publishers to ensure that the project meets high production standards.

The project is planning to cover the history of the school on both its current site since 1971 but also on its earlier site since 1849. In addition, it is known that small private schools existed in Bishop Monkton before that and the project will be aiming to find out more about these. The project will also take in adult as well as school education and will include the story of the Mechanics Institution.

Sally Cowling, the Headteacher of the School, said:- “The School are really excited about this project. It will give us an opportunity for children in every year group to find out more about what going to school would have been like in the past. It will also give our children a chance to be involved in learning useful skills like research, design and film-making. The staff and our Governors are fully behind it and we can’t wait to get started.”

Chris Bagnall, Chair of the Local History Group, said:- “This project is exactly what the Local History Group exists to do - conducting original research to find out new things about the history of our village and then sharing the results of that research with the wider community. We want this project to focus on both the history of the school within living memory but also the more distant past. We are really pleased that the school are so enthusiastic about working with us.”

The project is going to be co-ordinated and produced by Colin Philpott who said:- “It was great going into school last week and hearing what children want to find out through this project – for example, what school meals were like in the past, what school rules were and what happened if children broke them. We are determined that this project will be children-led and that school pupils will play a full part in every aspect of what is produced. And we will be appealing to people in our village to come forward with their photos, materials and stories of the school in the past.”

If you have a story or photos or documents relevant to the history of education in our village, please contact the project by email BishopMonktonYesterday@gmail.com