Published on: Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Despite the short time we have been back at King’s Hall, our History department have been exciting the children with role plays, visiting Viking Gods and foraging for edible Celtic food in the woods.
Year 8 have begun the year with their end of year exams as the main talking point, and the Common Entrance classes have started by preparing for the evidence section of their paper with sources on the murder of Thomas Becket. Some pupils have remembered this knowledge from Year 6 and they have all had the opportunity to role-play the story to refresh their memories. In preparation for their scholarship exam in February, 8S are investigating the consequences of the Industrial Revolution.
Meanwhile Year 7 are at the start of their Common Entrance and scholarship journey, and have begun learning about the problems faced by Henry VII as he established the Tudor dynasty. Pupils in Year 7 have had a fantastic start to the year, showing some excellent prior knowledge and a real thirst for information.
Following on from studying the Vikings and Saxons last year, Year 6 are learning about life in medieval England. The opening lessons of this year have encouraged Year 6 to act like detectives in their lessons, as they look for clues in sources and make a judgement on what they might show. Sherlock Holmes was a common point of reference for Year 6, but Mr Rudkin liked the idea of being James Bond; more a spy than a detective!
In Year 5, we are introducing the Vikings and looking forward to learning about where they came from, how they arrived on our shores and how they lived. Pupils will be making their own Viking long ships over the half term holiday and Madame Murray is looking forward to getting out her dragon head to tell exciting Viking stories of raids and adventures.
Last year the children in Year 4 learnt all about the Celts and their way of life in Britain. After a quick recap, they are now moving forwards in time to the Roman invasions, which started by looking at maps to see where the Romans came from. Pupils have been amazed to see the incredible spread of the Roman Empire over a period of 500 years.
Year 3 have been introduced to the British Celts, discussing what things the Celts would and wouldn’t have had at that time. The children were surprised to learn that while the Celts had salt, which was very important for preserving food, they didn’t have potatoes! The pupils have also been on a foraging walk around the school grounds to find foods that the Celts could have gathered, such as hazelnuts, stinging nettles and blackberries.
With such exciting lessons already, we can’t wait to see what pupils discover in their History lessons next!