The MADE team recently visited Manley Park primary school to deliver the first session of S.A.M: Story Archivists of Manchester!
The Year 6 children had previously found a mysterious box from S.A.M in their classroom, with a range of historical objects inside.
After a lot of questioning and curiosity, the children were then introduced to Isah – a story archivist who needed their help. The Story Archivists of Manchester are an organisation who have been archiving the every-day stories from the people of Manchester over 100s of years but recently, Isah who has been left in charge, has been a little overwhelmed! The children’s mission was to identify the objects and link them to Manchester’s history.
The students learned about the ‘Penny Lick’, a glass used to serve ice cream by street vendors who had migrated from Italy in the 19th Century.
The Penny Lick was outlawed when it was linked to the spread of Cholera but this led to the invention of the waffle cone. Year 6 were able to explore Manchester as a city of immigration and innovation.
After reading the UNICEF Rights of the Child, they identified the right to clean drinking water as linking to what they’d learned.
S.A.M aims to bring magic and joy to curriculum learning through a narrative approach. It is focused on teaching the Upper Key Stage 2 local History strand of the History curriculum through 5 engaging arts-based activities. These sessions can be taught as a sequence of 5 sessions or individually. We are currently looking for more schools interested in a visit from S.A.M. If you’re a Key Stage 2 teacher or know a school that would benefit from this resource, please get in touch with Maya at maya@z-arts.org and/or hannah@z-arts.org to have support in delivering the project!
