Education sessions in the history of market gardening

More than 550 children from seven schools have enjoyed the Market Garden Game, run by Jam Education Officer Ed Bartram.

The game involves plenty of physical activity and role-playing as part of learning. Ed recently delivered our schools workshop to trainee primary teachers specialising in Geography, at Roehampton University. The aim of the session was to give the students an insight into presenting curriculum material in a creative way, and inspire their interest in the history of the area.

As with his recent visit to local schools, Ed cleared the tables and chairs from the classroom and unfurled our magnificent map of the local area. The students then had to answer questions about the history of market gardens, the environment and local history.

The session tracked the enormous changes since the early 1800’s when welsh farm labourers would walk to Hampton every year to pick strawberries, to the boom of the market gardens in the 2nd half of the 19th Century and their disappearance by the 1980’s. The session interwove discussion, role play and construction – the materials for the latter being cardboad boxes.

The head of the course at Roehampton was particularly impressed by the boxes, and vowed to buy some for his own sessions in the near future! The students enjoyed both the historical information and creative approach. One said the ‘session was very interactive and I learnt about the changes in West London over time. I live in the area and learnt a lot of new information.’

In the new year, Ed will deliver 5 more session in local primary schools, several with parent and child groups, and 2 at Richmond Museum and a central London venue still to be confirmed.