Bringing history to life beyond the classroom
Jane Weller, Teacher/ EVC, LOtC and Forest School Lead, Templars Primary School
Templars Primary School is a 3-form entry with 662 children in the South of Coventry.
The catchment area for the school falls within the Westwood and Woodlands council wards, which are among the areas with the highest level of deprivation. Currently, the school has 35% of children in receipt of pupil premium and 25% of children with English as an additional language.
Our year 5 children visited LOtC Quality Badge holder Tamworth Castle in November 2023. At Templars we have developed a bespoke curriculum through theme overviews. The year 5’s was all about the Saxons and Vikings. The team investigated venues that could offer a real-life experience to our children as they missed out on their museum visit previously due to Covid restrictions. Due to rising costs, we needed to ensure the visit was value for money and an experience they will remember. In preparation for the visit to the castle, within their year group they had conducted a knowledge harvest to ascertain what they knew about the Saxons and Vikings.
Tamworth Castle was selected as it offered the activities vital to the student’s learning and knowledge. It was affordable and immersed the children with what they offered.
The students were split into groups, rotating in a carousel of activities. Exploring history through objects and artifacts; learning about the history of the castle’s objects; and exploring the castle offered information about about life in the past and gave them the real-life experience they needed.
The day brought the past alive for both students and teachers: not having to explore the past whilst using a modern-day interactive whiteboard and the internet.
Having experienced staff at the venue brought the tales of the past alive and they were able to be hands on with the clothing, objects, and artifacts. The students acted out fight scenes which they particularly enjoyed. Almost all the children not been to a castle before so this created the link from the past to the present they needed in their learning.
What was the impact?
After the visit, teachers completed an evaluation to discover their thoughts. The information collected highlighted the exceptional behaviour during the visit and the learning that will take place afterwards.
LOtC is embedded across our school’s curriculum to ensure our children gain as much as they can from all types of learning.
Templars Primary School went through the CLOtC LOtC Mark programme of support.
They submitted their LOtC progress tracker and supporting evidence to be assessed and were awarded a Gold LOtC Mark in September 2023, demonstrating their dedication and commitment to offering their students a wide range of LOtC experiences that are well planned, meaningful and have impact.
Find out more about the LOtC Mark.
