Free History Workshops for Schools – Trent Park House

FAO: Primary and Secondary, History Leads, Y6 leads

Trent Park House in Enfield is developing a new museum and prior to opening is delighted to offer local schools a free history workshop for KS2 or KS3 this autumn. Trent Park was requisitioned during WW2, and the site was used for holding prisoners of war, in particular high-ranking German generals. Rooms in the house and the grounds were bugged with early state-of-the-art surveillance equipment and, listening in on conversations above from the basement, the 'Secret Listeners' gleaned vital intelligence on many aspects of the war. Many of the Secret Listeners were Jewish German and Austrian migrants. The wartime use of the site was bound by the Official Secrets Act for over 50 years and is only recently beginning to emerge.

The site is currently being redeveloped and before it opens, we have secured funding to develop exciting new interactive workshops delivered in schools by a facilitator from Freshwater Theatre Company. We have been working with our partner schools to develop and pilot the workshops over the past few months. For KS2 the workshop links to WW2, local history and migration, with the KS3 workshop additionally connecting to study of the Holocaust. It accommodates up to 30 students for 1 hour, in a large space such as a school hall.

We have a limited number of dates available in the autumn term (Sept-Dec 2023). Supporting pre-visit learning materials will also be available.

Please email:

catherine.holden@trentparkhouse.org.uk for more information.