Kilwinning pupils use history to help plan the future

Hundreds of school pupils from Kilwinning have learned valuable lessons from the historic town’s past as they discover more of plans to rebuild its future.

Kilwinning Academy and its cluster primary schools of Pennyburn, Abbey, Blacklands, Corsehill and Whitehurst all took part in two projects initiated by Irvine Bay Regeneration Company. Primary 7 pupils took part along with first-year students.

Working with Rathmell Archaeology, Kilwinning Abbey – Kilwinning Preservation Society, each of the 6 schools selected a topic as their contribution for the project. Topics chosen were ‘Education in the 1950’s’, ‘Heritage Trails’, ‘Employment in the area’, ‘Memories’, ‘The Abbey’ and ‘Leisure Time’.

The final work produced formed an exhibition as part of the June induction days at the Academy for other pupils and parents to view.

The same 320 pupils took part in the Kilwinning Transition Challenge Event, with Rathmell Archaeology again partnering.

Pupils were set four tasks involving designing a coloured logo, plaque, information sheet and poster to promote this year’s archaeological dig to others. The work will be critically assessed by peers and displayed for all to view at the end of the day. The challenge was designed to meet Curriculum for Excellence criteria, including numeracy, literacy and design challenges and has supported the school in delivering the national strategy.

Patrick Wiggins, Chief Executive of Irvine Bay, said: “These projects helped us reach hundreds of young people and to get them involved and interested in the regeneration of their area. Regeneration is about more than bricks and mortar, it is about stimulating the interest and imagination of local people and in particular of young people.

“We were delighted that as well as gaining their interest, the feedback from schools was very positive in that these projects help the pupils learn lessons across a range of disciplines in a real-life environment.”