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• 2005
• September
• • Arsenal footballer helps Holloway School celebrate its specialist status
  • Arsenal footballer Jose Antonio Reyes launches Holloway school's specialist sports status
  • Artefact boxes to help youngsters experience VJ and VE days
  • Clerkenwell students' book on display at the British Library
  • Holloway School awarded £16,000 grant from Jack Petchey Foundation to advance the SHINE Academy
  • Hungerford primary children and parents take GCSEs
  • St Aloysius' college becomes Islington's top performing school

Artefact boxes to help youngsters experience VJ and VE days

Event: Launch of WWII commemoration and remembrance boxes and CD of local memories

Date: 21 September 2005

Venue: Education Library Service, Block D, Barnsbury Complex, Barnsbury Park, London N1 1QG

0207 527 5827

Time: 5.00 – 6.30pm

Sixty years seems like a long time ago when you are only six or 16 but thanks to an Islington education initiative, local school students are getting a taste of life at the end of World War II.

In 1945, celebrations were held throughout the borough marking the Victory over Japan (VJ) and Victory in Europe (VE).

As part of the 60th anniversary, CEA@Islington’s Education Artefacts Library was awarded a £4,000 Islington Council grant to produce eight commemoration and remembrance boxes, and further funding to produce a CD of local memories of this period

Containing original and replica historical artefacts, original documents from WWII, photographs and teachers’ guidance notes, the boxes will be used as part of the curriculum in Islington’s primary and secondary schools.

Councillor James Kempton, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Children, said that the boxes would have a strong local focus on how the end of WWII was celebrated in the borough:

“VJ and VE days form a special part of the consciousness for many older residents throughout Islington.

“These boxes provide younger residents with a unique opportunity to experience what life was like at this time and to discover what made it such an important part of our history.

“Importantly, the range of artefacts in the boxes, including replica costumes, toys of the time and photographs of Islington, will ensure their relevance to all age groups while providing an invaluable educational resource to teachers.”

The boxes will be loaned out to Islington schools with plans underway to digitise resource boxes onto the libraries’ website and showcase children's work on the site.

In total £50,000 in grants was awarded by Islington Council for more than 30 projects and events throughout the borough.

For more information, please contact CEA@Islington's Communications Department: