Discovery Visits 2013

The Discovery Visits at Housesteads are beginning after Easter this year.

MEET A ROMAN SOLDIER

Explore Roman military life and discover how the building of Hadrian's Wall affected the local population in remarkably different ways. Meet Roman Officer Centurion Rufus Aelius Victor and discover what life was like on the frontier. Take on the role of a recruit and be taken through duties using drama and role play. Recruits will tour both inside the fort and the remains of the settlement beyond, using replica and real artefacts found near Hadrian’s Wall to find out about the lives of the soldiers and civilians who lived at Housesteads

When: By arrangement Tue & Wed Term-time April - September

Length: 1.5 hours

for more info and How to book
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/education/discovery-visits/housesteads-roman-fort/

Roman Roadshow Teachers Event - 27th June 2012

Come and find out how we can help you teach the Romans.

English Heritage are hosting a Teachers Event at Housesteads Roman Fort.  In partnership with The Deja Crew, Vindolanda, Segedunum, Arbeia, Hexham Abbey and others, we aim to Engage, Enthrall and Educate.
The event will be from 4:00 to 6:00pm on Wednesday 27th June at Housesteads Roman Fort and is FREE to attend.
 It's essential you contact Zoe Spring (01904 601962 or zoe.spring@english-heritage.org.uk) if you want to come along.
I'll post more details soon

Discovery Visits 2012

The Discovery Visit season for English Heritage is off to a fine start.  Despite the Winter closures we've had half a dozen groups already.  There have been a couple of changes, there's only myself delivering the workshop now and the 'Discovery Visit' is only available at Housesteads, there are now different arrangements for Chesters.  However your school can still book for

Meet a Roman Soldier - Housesteads

Explore Roman military life and discover how the building of Hadrian's Wall affected the local population in remarkably different ways. Meet Roman Officer Centurion Maximus and discover what life was like on the frontier. Take on the role of a recruit and be taken through duties using drama and role play. Recruits will tour both inside the fort and the remains of the settlement beyond, using replica and real artefacts found near Hadrian’s Wall to find out about the lives of the soldiers and civilians who lived at Housesteads

   http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/education/discovery-visits/housesteads-roman-fort/    

for details and how to book

For educational visits to Chesters Roman Fort, there is the option of working with me as an 'Approved Educational Provider'.  Contact English Heritage directly on the new Bookings Number 0870 333 0606
they will pass on my contact details and we can arrange your sessions
(please note: the prices quoted on the EH website do not apply to workshops arranged this way)

Rufus Aelius Victor, Evocatus

I'm getting more inquiries from schools looking for a 'Roman Army' session so here is a quick session plan for what I could do for your school.

 

I introduce myself as Rufus Aelius Victor, I am in costume and describe myself as an Evocatus or Veteran Soldier back in the Army after 25 years service. I try to work as interactivity as possible, with plenty of movement, almost all of my equipment and armour is replica and can be handled by the children, I have tunics for the children to wear and wooden shields and either foam 'spears' or wooden swords to use when drilling the group.

A typical session could be

• Introduce myself and talk briefly about the people living in the area before the Romans, question and answer as to why they might want to join the Army.
• I recruit them and check if they are fit for duty (with as much movement as the space will allow)
• Using a couple of volunteers show the dress and equipment of a Legionary and Auxillary soldier.
• Dress the group in tunics, issue them with shields and weapons and drill them as recruit using Latin commands.

This session could be run either indoors (for example, in the school hall) or outdoors.  I know almost all of the Roman Sites in the North east and across Hadrian's Wall, so I could run this session as part of your visit.

If this brief description has stimulated your interest, why not drop me a line, either to  rlwsn@btinternet.com  or on 07960 125218.

Thanks,

Roy

New resource for Campaign! Make an Impact

 www.bl.uk/campaign

Earlier in the year I worked with schools in Cumbria on Campaign! Make an Impact.  As the project was funded by Hadrian's Wall Heritage, one of the tasks was create a resource to help Teachers' run their own project using the Frontiers of the Roman Empire as an inspiration.
I've just discovered that the resource is now available as downloadable pdf's on the web - see the Hadrian's Wall Country website (http://www.hadrians-wall.org/) click on the links below. 

It's really a toolkit to help you run your own project and details the two approaches I've used with schools over the last year or so.  It's broken down into 17 pieces to help with the downloading (listed below).  The section tell you all about what Campaign! is and how to do it, signposting you to resources on the British Library website.  This is followed by the all important Links to the Curriculum section.  Then we demonstrate how the British Library's model can be applied to a historical campaign, using resources for the 1870's Campaign to excavate Arbeia Roman Fort before houses were built on the site.  In Cumbria we used the Roman Archaeology to give us evidence of what life was like and flag the 'Citizenship Issues' that would affect people at the time.  This gave the students the bridge to learn about Campaigning and how things can be changed today.  The links are below, any thoughts or comments welcome and if you do use it with your students, please let me know,
thanks,
Roy

SECTION                                                                        FILE SIZE
Campaign - What and Why .pdf.........................................241kb
Campaign - How to do it.pdf..............................................328kb
1 CMAI - a short guide for schools.pdf...............................375kb
2 CMAI - teachers handbook.pdf.......................................580kb
3 CMAI - student handbook.pdf.......................................4.5Mb
4 KS2 Curriculum Links.pdf................................................33kb
4a KS3 Curriculum Links.pdf..............................................40kb
5 Looking at Historical campaigns grid.doc...........................17kb
5a linking old and new campaigns.doc..................................17kb
6 Arbeia - Historical Campaign Resource.pdf....................8.5Mb
6a Arbeia - Project Plan.doc................................................32kb
6b Arbiea - case study Home Educated children.doc.............50kb
7 Roman Archaeology - Project Plan.doc.............................26kb
7a Roman Archaeology - Tullie House visit booklet.doc........23kb
7b Roman Archaeoogy - case study - Ivegill.doc..............8.94Mb
8 Finding more information.doc............................................22kb

8a Who to contact for more information.doc.........................15kb

Cockfield Primary School - 1 July 2011

The end of Summer Term provided an opportunity to work with one of the schools that had visited Whitley Castle as part of the Epic Epiacum event last year.  The current Year 3/4 class had just finished the Romans as a topic and wanted a workshop to reinforce their learning.  We made giant timelines, handled real and replica artifacts, imagined what life was like for the local tribespeople, the Brigantes, before the Romans came, we looked at how life would change and finally dressed up as Roman Soldiers discovered what it was like to drilled as new recruits.
It's good to begin to develop relationships with schools in this way and I'm intending to develop more workshops for schools, so watch this space...

Rounding up 2010 - The Eagles Have Landed

Hello,

A New Year and time to tidy up last year and begin anew.

September and October saw the TYNE TEAM working on 'The Eagles Have Landed' a schools and community event programme to complement the touring exhibition of the same name. http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/time/roman/ART308897897 for more info and where the exhibition is now.

We ran a 2 day public event at Segedunum (4/5th September), and a more in depth schools project involving Burnside Business and Enterprise College in Wallsend, then we followed the exhibition over to the other side of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site at Maryport. We ran another 2 day public event at Senhouse Roman Museum and on the . We wanted to highlight the impact of the sudden appearance of the sophisticated and intimidating Roman Legions would have had on the locals.

Talk about Culture Shock!

Each of our characters took a view on this, from the soldiers extolling the virtues of the Army and recruiting with the promise of an easy life and wages, to the local craftspeople who may have seen new business opportunities and those who would have viewed all this with suspicion and fear. After all what did the Romans ever do for us?

The schools project involved working closely with all of Year 7 from Burnside College, we ran drama and storytelling workshops, explored the identity of those who may have lived near Segedunum and created a ceramic 'sculpture' which will follow the exhibition to Tullie House in the Spring. Watch out for the 'Teacher's Pack' based on our work.

Advanced Learning Centre - History. June/July 2010 at Segedunum

Based at Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend the Advanced Learning Centre is now in it's fourth year. For six weeks in June and July around 25 children each week ,gave up 6 of their Saturday mornings to find out more about History and Archaeology. We studied maps, aerial photographs, took part in a simulated 'dig', recorded finds and explored the ancient techniques of dying and weaving under the expert hands of 'Textiles through Time' - Ruth Hicken.
By using archaeology we developed new skills and hopefully inspired curiosity in the children, most of whom will start secondary school in September.
"Thanks very much - that was so much fun"

The Advanced Learning Centre is part of the North Tyneside Councils, Gifted and Talented provision.

the Wall to Wall project

This is the other big project I'm involved in at present. These two characters

may well appear in an exhibition I'm co-ordinating at Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend.

Over the past 10 years Burnside Business and Enterprise College and Segedunum have worked closely together, the culmination has been the Wall to Wall project. Part of 'People and Place', a British Museum project, the whole school has been involved. All of Year 7 spent a 'Cultural Day' off timetable, discovering about Roman times and exploring their own identity by looking at favourite objects that meant something to each of the 5 senses. A smaller group has been thinking about what objects can tell us about the past and what objects could tell future generations about us. Much of this work will be on the Wall to Wall website (http://www.wall-to-wall.org).

The school has been developing links with School Number 19 in Hebei Province, near were the Great Wall of China begins. Both ancient wall are World Heritage Sites, both valued for their 'outstanding universal value' and have helped Burnside become a UNESCO 'Associated school'. This link with China has inspired work by other students, including GCSE Art.

The theme running through the exhibition is 'exploring ourselves', looking at the questions,

Who Am I? - exploring contemporary identity

Who Are You? - looking at the cultural identity of their partner school in Hebei

Who Were They? - what can objects tell us of the people who lived at Segedunum in Roman Times

The exhibition will open on 27 March 2010, so come along and explore your identity.