New Trail Makers AI project will engage school children in town’s history and The Ipswich Society’s Blue Plaques scheme.

The Ipswich Society is delighted to be partnering with the Thomas Wolsey 550 project, Packaged Living, Sizewell Creative, and The Historic Towns Trust on the new Ipswich Trail Makers project.

Ipswich Trail Makers introduces primary school pupils to the stories of a range of individuals whose lives and achievements are commemorated through Ipswich Society’s ‘Blue Plaques scheme’. Through place-based historical enquiry and creative digital interpretation, pupils will explore how these individuals’ lives connect with the development of Ipswich and the wider story of their town.

The project is the brainchild of Hannah Houghton, Education and Opportunities Lead for the Wolsey 550 project, and James Lee Burgess of Urban Tech Creative, and builds on the recent ‘Dock Stories’ app launched in conjunction with the Stoke Bridge Wharf project.

Piloted with two local schools, Ranelagh Primary and Broke Hall Primary School, the initial work will help refine a structured classroom learning pack to be delivered across a further six primary schools across Ipswich. The resources have been designed so that they can subsequently be made available to all local schools.

Pupils at Ranelagh Primary exploring a historic map of Ipswich as part of the Trail Makers session

Wolsey 550 has previously demonstrated the potential of curriculum-linked local history resources through its ‘Thomas Wolsey and Tudor Ipswich programme’ for Key Stages 2 and 3, which has already been embedded within the curriculum of thirteen schools locally.

A New Learning Model

The Ipswich Trail Makers teacher-friendly learning pack is designed to align with the Key Stage 2 history curriculum and develop pupils’ understanding of historical enquiry and historical significance.

The pack includes teacher notes, presentation slides, archive material, historic maps and interactive classroom activities introducing pupils to Ipswich Blue Plaque recipients. Using archival photographs and historic mapping, pupils will explore how Ipswich has changed over time and how the lives of notable individuals are connected to specific places across the town.

Using archive material and guided enquiry, pupils investigate the life and contribution of their chosen historic figure before scripting, designing and producing a digital character to represent them. Pupils are supported to create these characters through a guided digital platform that allows them to safely use AI tools to generate imagery and first-person narratives, with safeguarding built into the platform design.

Pupils created AI generated avatars representing their chosen historical figure

In an initial workshop, pupils selected the young engineer Edward Caley, who designed Ipswich’s Wet Dock at the age of 21, and placed the digital character in their own interpretation of an Ipswich dockside scene before the Wet Dock was built.

Alongside this research process, pupils are introduced to the Blue Plaque nomination process itself and encouraged to consider who in their own community might deserve recognition in the future.

Public Heritage Trail

The project will culminate during Heritage Open Days in September with the launch of a new digital heritage trail which anyone can participate in.

The trail will feature eight digitally animated historical characters, each researched and created by pupils from participating schools. These characters will be accessed through QR codes positioned close to existing Blue Plaque locations across Ipswich, allowing visitors to encounter these historical figures through the voices and interpretations of young people.

The new trail will be developed in partnership with Historic Towns Trust, whose detailed 1904 map of Ipswich provides an important visual reference for the project’s exploration of the town during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Eleanor Fiennes, Director of Operations for Packaged Living said:

“As the developer and operator of the rental community at Merchant’s Yard, Packaged Living has a long-term commitment to Ipswich. Our involvement in Ipswich Trail Makers reflects our belief that successful neighbourhoods are built on strong connections to place, heritage and education. This project gives young people the opportunity to explore those connections in an innovative and inspiring way.”

Graham Lambert, Chair of The Ipswich Society said:

“The Ipswich Society has commemorated thirty Ipswich residents through its blue plaque scheme, whose lives or work have helped to shape our town’s intellectual, cultural and/or social landscape. Some of our celebrated Ipswichians have made a significant, lasting impact in their specialist area, achieving national recognition. In recognising their lives with a blue plaque on a building or at a place relevant to them, they are not forgotten, and later generations including the Ipswich Trail Makers are inspired by their achievements. The Ipswich Society is pleased to be working with the Thomas Wolsey 550 project to inspire Ipswich primary schoolchildren.”

Rosalind Parker at Sizewell Creative said:

‘Our commitment to audiences, engaging community and young people with and through professional practitioners across the region, has a special interest in projects which encourage ownership, belonging and identity, and New Trail Makers brings innovation and invention right into the fabric of our townscape. The local is something to be newly and continuously re-found and celebrated, in our changing climate, and this collaboration highlights a strand of our work around creative heritage and living archive - which we look forward to exploring further at a symposium event at Suffolk Archives next year.’