4.17 Education Service
Supporting study at Silchester
New investigations of part of Silchester Roman City began in 1997 by the Archaeology Department of Reading University, with the excavations (of part of Insula IX and two of the surrounding streets) planned to continue until 2001. It is hoped that they will provide detailed information on the diet, health, crafts, and trades of those who lived in the Roman town. The project is intended to train archaeology students. It is not a response to proposals for development, and is therefore not a rescue excavation. These factors, together with the commitment of the team of archaeologists to education and the high profile of the Romans in the National Curriculum, all make Silchester an ideal site for pupils to study and visit, both during and after the excavation.
As part of English Heritage's continuing commitment to raising educational understanding of archaeology and the study of the physical evidence, we produced a special free eight-page teachers' information booklet giving historical background and suggesting teaching approaches to help school groups get the most out of visits to the excavation and related project work (P. Planel and G. Sherfield, 1998 Silchester Roman town, Calleva Atrebatum: information for teachers).
We also organised a successful in-service training course, over three days in June and July, for 22 Key Stage 2 teachers from Hampshire and Berkshire. This included a visit to Reading Museum to encourage use of the objects in the Silchester gallery, a tour of the excavations, hands-on archaeological activities, and a session focused on curriculum planning. Feedback was extremely positive, for instance one teacher commenting that it was a chance to experience how archaeologists piece the past together from the evidence...enriching the teaching I deliver'. Those who attended will be invited to bring their pupils to see the site being excavated in 1999, when it is hoped to build on the success of this year's activities.