Site benefits
- A real castle to touch, smell and see
- ‘Real’ history, hands on experience, different enthusiastic leader
- Putting learning in context, giving children the whole picture
- Seeing, smelling and feeling atmosphere of a real castle and prison
- Real objects and buildings far more motivational and engaging
- First hand experience, knowledgeable guides, stimulating environment
- Made facts and info we have found in books and internet come to life
“The students thoroughly enjoyed the visit which enabled us to concentrate on language related to crime and punishment before the visit. The Art class at the end of the tour was chosen as we thought it would be the less ‘language-based’ of all the workshops on offer. However, it proved to be fantastic. The pupils all participated and the work they produced showed very clearly that they had understood the tour and what they had been told very well indeed. This was a very worthwhile visit and will definitely be repeated.” – Sibford School, British Life and Culture programme
General comments
- The guides were excellent and the workshop was a great way of seeing how the past is shown as well as giving clues
- I thought the workshop was very good – allowing the children to discover information themselves
- Thank you for everything – the organisation was superb. I will be recommending it to all my colleagues
- It was just perfect
- It was a fantastic opportunity for the children. They all said how much they enjoyed it
- I had lots of parents say how much the children liked it and haven’t stopped talking about it – and the children themselves thanked me for booking it!
- Helen was excellent during the workshop and was very accommodating when we arrived early. The workshop was pitched at the right level and pupils really enjoyed it
- The visit was fine and the guides were excellent
- Workshop was very well run, thank you
- Particularly impressed by ability to cope with even our youngest 4 year olds in the group. Tour + workshop pitched perfectly
- Great mix of hands-on and looking at original sources
- You responded flexibly to our students and everything was well-paced
- Very useful ‘pack’ for preparation and follow up activities
- It was an excellent enrichment day for the pupils and they all seemed to enjoy themselves and be able to think about the castle and the prison and the issues that raised
- The guides were excellent and the staff were friendly, helpful and patient, and you have been very helpful before the trip and on the day. Thank you very much!
Student comments
- We liked going on the treadmill and the bed because we could see how hard the jobs of the prisoners were (KS2)
- It was really enjoyable and I really liked it (KS2)
- The visit has helped us in class by teaching us more about the Castle and what life was like there (KS2)
- We liked learning about the Victorians because we go to find out how heavy the chains were and how they used a bucked to go to the toilet (KS2)
- Our best bits were going to the top of the tower, going up the hill, going in the prisons and smelling things. (Foundation/KS1)
- Teachers on teacher training days
- Excellent schedule and content very informative, great springboard for ideas
- Very interesting/informative, visionary and very uplifting. Please can we have more of this type of Inset
- Very informative. I can see this would benefit both KS3/4 in many different ways
- Excellent – very interesting
