Central Norfolk Higher Education Field Academy

From Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 May, Year 10 students from City Academy Norwich, The Hewett School and Open Academy took part in the Higher Education Field Academy, or HEFA for short, at Carleton Rode, South Norfolk.  The students worked in teams of four and spent two days digging and excavating a test pit in the hot sun.  It was an exhausting task to do in the heat, so it was great to see all of the students working as a team and sharing the tasks.

On the third day the students and their accompanying school staff, Aimhigher Associates and Student Ambassadors went to the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, to discover what everyone had found in their test pits.  Whilst at Cambridge they worked in a lecture theatre, had lunch and then went on a fascinating tour of a college before returning to Norfolk.

The winners of the Test Pit Awards are:

• Cutest Find goes to Test Pit 2 for the miniature horseshoe.
• Oldest Find goes to Test Pit 1 for the Paleoflint plate, which was 500,000 years old!
• Most Finds goes to Test Pit 5.
• Biggest Artefact goes to Test Pit 3 for a piece of tile and a pipe.
• Hardest Digging goes to Test Pit 3.
• Best Recording goes to Test Pit 1.
• Tidiest Finished Site was won jointly by Test Pits 4 and 5.
• Deepest Pit goes to Test Pit 5.
• Best Team Spirit goes to Test Pit 4.

To complete the HEFA and get their certificate, students have been given a short written assignment to do, which will be marked by Carenza Lewis at the University of Cambridge.

A huge well done is deserved by all of the students who took part, as they all worked exceptionally hard across the three days.  Thank you to the Aimhigher Associates and Student Ambassadors from the University of East Anglia who each led the excavation of a test pit.