TreeHouse School is located close to parks and woodland which pupils regularly access during community trips. At the beginning of the school year, we were excited to participate in a history project in nearby Highgate Woods. 

Friends of the Highgate Roman Kiln (FOHRK), working in partnership with Firing London's Imagination with the City of London Corporation and Bruce Castle Museum, have brought back a huge part of Highgate Woods history re-installing an original kiln and creating a working replica demonstrating the role the woods and the local area has had throughout history. 

Nick Peacey, who leads FOHRK, has spent his professional life on national and international work in the field of special educational needs and disability (SEND); he was involved with Virginia Bovell and Treehouse School in the fledgling years so understandably was very keen to link our wonderful pupils to this exciting project.

The Friends of the Highgate Roman Kiln and Turning Earth Highgate kindly supplied a bag of purified natural clay - which was excavated from the Roman site located Highgate Woods - for our Forest School sessions on Saplings. The pupils enjoyed the texture and smell of the clay, an incredible opportunity to experience this as the Romans did 2000 years ago. They had a go at creating pinch pots and coil pots with the clay. We even managed to paint with it! The pots and bowls have now been fired in the replica kiln located in Highgate Wood and are now on display outside Joanna’s office. Pupils completed their project with a community trip to the Woods to see the replica kiln.