Classes
A VISIT TO DUNWICH MUSEUM AND DUNWICH BEACH
There’s no better place than Dunwich Beach to sit and contemplate the passing of time and to write a poem, which is exactly what the children of Fressingfield School did today.
The day started with either a tour around Dunwich with Sister Luke, or a visit to the lovely Dunwich Museum.
Those with – the bare-footed – Sister Luke were treated to an historical tour of what remains of ancient Dunwich. A walk along St James’ Street – once the great thoroughfare into the busy port – lead to a short walk through the woods along the clifftop path to the back of Greyfriars Monastery. We stopped to learn about the plant Alexander, which was imported by the Romans because it tastes a bit like asparagus and the legionnaires were missing their vegetables, and which now grows rampantly throughout the village, and to look at the last remaining grave of All Saints’ Church, which fell into the sea about 100 years ago.
In Greyfriars, we learnt about the merchants, wool-traders, ship-builders and other tradespeople that used to live in Dunwich. We also learnt that the town was a stopping off point for pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. For the walk back to the museum, we marched, like real pilgrims, ringing bells and singing and banging sticks to let people know our purpose.
In the museum, Jane Hamilton, with the help of a fantastic model, told us about the great port of Dunwich and the storm of 1286 that destroyed the harbour and started the long decline of the town’s fortunes. Meanwhile, the children upstairs were able to handle some of the finds that had been found on Dunwich Beach over the years, including spurs, sheep bells, musket balls, keys and even the leg bone of a woolly mammoth. Sarah the Archaeologist was on hand to answer the children’s many questions.
As the weather was glorious, lunch was had on the pebbles of Dunwich Beach and then we split again into groups for the afternoon’s workshops. Some children started with a sketching activity: using viewfinders, they were able to select a view to sketch in the homemade books we had brought with us for the occasion. Others were on a slow, noticing walk along the tide mark to gather small items that had been washed up by the sea which they stuck onto pieces of card to create beautiful collections. At the same time, a third group were writing poems based on their walks along the beach, which will be written up when we get back to school.
All in all, we had a fantastic day. The staff at the museum and all those who came with us were really impressed by the children’s behaviour and the excellent questions they asked.
I would like to thank all those that came with us; we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did.
Jeremy Leicester
Immersive Days
As part of our new writing scheme, we plan in Immersive days. These may be practical, sometimes drama-based or may involve watching and discussing some high-quality videos related to their writing. They really bring the topic to life for the children, help them to imagine being somewhere else or someone else and enable them to use the strong language we would like them to use in their writing. When children are sparked and enthusiastic, it is so much more fun to write!
In our recent block based on a book called Whale (by Ethan and Vita Murrow), one of our immersive days involved discovering our main character Lucy’s rucksack. What might be inside? Children took it in turns to take out and look at the contents, which included a map, compass, screwdriver and a mysterious letter. What might Lucy be doing? Where? And why? Everybody was very excited!
Another immersive lesson involved watching some awesome Blue Planet footage on whales at sea. The children loved hearing the expert voices of Sir David Attenborough and Steve Backshall. Quite a few of them came in the following morning with even more whale facts! By now, everyone in the class understood why our character Lucy was so passionate to go out to sea and spot a real-life whale.
Our next immersive day involved a team effort to create a boat from scratch using recycled materials. The challenge? It needed to hold a 200 g weight and stay afloat for 20 seconds. The children werable to empathise with Lucy after her boat was damaged in a terrible storm.
The children are now really excited about writing their own whale-spotting stories. Watch this space!
Anglo-Saxon Houses!
Children in Congo Class have been rounding off their recent history topic by using authentic building techniques to create their own Anglo-Saxon houses. Using different methods such as weaving willow twigs and mixing ‘wattle and daub’ from damp soil and straw, children used their plans to create cosy homesteads fit for any Anglo-Saxon! And then the roof of each involved designing, measuring, sawing and glueing. What a great architectural feat it was! Whilst we’re pretty sure the Anglo-Saxons didn’t have glue guns, we all agreed this project was great fun.
