Behind The Talks
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 19
Hephzibah Rudofsky, 14.6.2026
I come from a family who kept things. My grandmother preserved objects, letters and photographs; my mother carefully kept papers and family records; my father was a collector. Looking back, perhaps it was inevitable that I would develop my own version of the same instinct: to document, preserve and make sense of stories, details and experiences I wanted to remember.
What began as a simple habit of record-keeping has gradually become an integral part of my schools programme. During the past twenty years, I have documented every aspect of these talks - the schools visited, their locations, the cities and countries travelled to, the year groups attending, the number of students present, the lead teachers involved and, occasionally, a memorable observation from a particular visit.
Alongside these records, I have built a photographic archive - part documentation, part memento. Looking back through the images, I can trace not only the growth of the programme, but also the extraordinary range of schools, communities and students that I have had the privilege to meet.
In recent years, I have begun documenting every question asked during the Q&A sessions that follow the talks. This has become one of the most fascinating parts of the archive. The questions reveal the breadth and depth of students' engagement, providing an unexpected insight into how young people interpret and connect with this period of history. Together, they offer a glimpse into the parts of the story that interest them most, challenge them, and remain with them after the talk has ended.
I also wanted to understand the impact of the talks in a more meaningful way, beyond my own impressions. To do this, I created a short questionnaire designed to capture students' reflections and what they take away from the experience. Originally called a ‘Feedback Form', it has since been renamed ‘Reflections on the Talk'. The new title better reflects its purpose - encouraging students to consider what they learned, what challenged them and what stayed with them.
Over the past twenty years, the archive has grown to include records from hundreds of schools, more than 50,000 students, hundreds of photographs, and a collection of thousands of student questions and reflections.
Taken together, these records form far more than a collection of statistics and documents. They constitute an archive of conversations, curiosity and engagement across Britain's schools and beyond. Over time, the archive has become valuable not only as a record of the programme itself, but also as a unique resource for understanding how young people respond to and reflect on history across different schools, communities and generations.
The archive offers a rare perspective on how young people think about history. While certain themes have remained remarkably constant across two decades, contemporary events occasionally shape the discussion, revealing how students connect the past with the world around them.
The schools programme has given me extraordinary access to classrooms, teachers and students from many different backgrounds. I have learned a great deal from these encounters. The archive is a reminder that education is never a one-way exchange: each visit adds another perspective, another layer of understanding.
For me, documenting the programme is not simply about keeping records. It is about preserving evidence of engagement, curiosity and human connection. Each entry represents a memory - a room full of students encountering history, asking questions, sharing reflections and forming their own understanding of the past.
In many ways, this archive is the backstage view of the schools programme - the unseen framework that supports the talks and tells a wider story of their reach, impact and continuing evolution. What began as a personal habit of record-keeping has become a record of thousands of encounters with students, teachers and schools - a record not only of where the talks have taken me, but of the questions, reflections and conversations they have generated along the way.
