History of prehistoric man – taught by Lego

Recent change to the KS2 curriculum have seen prehistory added to it for the first inincrease in visitor numbers from schools.

Now English Heritage has partnered with Lego Education to launch innovative new visits to Stonehenge, which will bring the 5,000- year history of the site to life for schoolchildren.

Stonehenge general manager Kate Davies said: “Stonehenge is one of the largest providers of education visits in Europe and we are always looking for interesting and innovative ways to engage pupils with the history of the site.

“From today schools will be able to book unique education sessions at Stonehenge which combine a visit to the famous stone circle and Neolithic houses with the use of Lego Education StoryStarter kits to decipher the history of our ancestors.

“The sessions have been designed to match the curriculum and will help teachers bring prehistory to life. These field and classroom sessions at Stonehenge will complement the wide range of educational resources already available on English Heritage’s website including free downloadable teaching aids, classroom tasks and discussion points.”

There will be six specially designed sessions a week and they expect over 600 pupils per year to participate.

“It is great see StoryStarter being used in such an innovative way,” said Jessica Armitage, primary marketing manager from Lego Education Europe.

“StoryStarter was designed to give children experience in creating and telling stories and motivate them to use their imaginations to develop a wide range of writing, speaking, listening and reading skills.

“English Heritage shares our passion to bring learning alive using a hands-on approach. Our partnership means we can continue to engage and attract children in other areas of the curriculum, like prehistory, whilst also improving their literacy and ICT skills.”

More information is available at english-heritage .org.uk/Stonehenge.