North Prospect school children share thoughts on the regeneration
15 October 24
As part of the North Prospect Regeneration Celebration event last month, children from local primary school, Mayflower Community Academy, were invited along to join the celebrations at The Beacon to mark the event.
Children from Year Two of the school have been learning about the local history of the area, meaning the event dovetailed perfectly with their history studies.
Sixty children were invited to the event, and upon arrival they were greeted by a vast and detailed local history exhibition on display, curated by Plymouth Community Homes (PCH). The display traced the history of the community stretching back decades, giving the students rich insight into the past.
Plymouth Community Homes staff with pupils from Mayflower Community Academy
They were also treated to a tour of the area on a specially hired land train, which they thoroughly enjoyed. The students were transported from The Beacon and taken on a tour of nearby residential developments, learning about the history of the Regeneration from a PCH tour guide along the way. The land train then returned to its original location at The Beacon to shuttle the next group on the tour.
Jessica Logan, Class Teacher at Mayflower Community Academy Teacher, said: “Our Year Two pupils really enjoyed our visit to The Beacon to learn about the regeneration of our local area so thank you to Plymouth Community Homes for the opportunity.
“They particularly enjoyed the land train and the chance to compare some of the newer buildings to the older ones. We are learning all about local history at the moment, so this trip supported their understanding of how our local area has changed.”
When asked about the day, the Year Two children shared their thoughts in class:
"The train was so fun, and we saw lots of houses that were new and some that were older. The houses were very different."
"I liked seeing what our school used to look like before they destroyed it and built our school."
"I saw my house in one of the pictures. I didn't know it was part of a project."
"I liked looking at the timeline of the when each thing was built because we've been learning about timelines in History."
"We've looked at some old maps in history, so it was interesting to see an old map of our area at the Beacon."
"I liked the videos of buildings being destroyed. It was before we were born so I didn't know that happened."
The transformational £130m project began in 2012 and saw the demolition of almost 800 homes in a poor condition in the years following, many of which are very close to Mayflower Community Academy.
The project delivered 491 new homes made available for affordable and social rent, and 195 for purchase as shared ownership, creating overall 686 affordable homes– more than the 605 socially rented homes previously in the area. A further 300 social rented homes were also refurbished by PCH.
