Kings, Queens & Castles Workshop

ReachOut Educate

Our Workshops involve engaging, interactive workshops and activities that are tailored to suit your learning outcomes, with an array of artefacts that can be explored giving the students a taste of what it truly was like to live when the Lancaster and York houses were around.

Our basic package includes:

*Experienced educators, with performing arts experience who bring history to life!

*An interactive performance with an overview of kings, queens and their castles.

*Every participating student will be able to witness how a coin is made via our Coin Striking kit and are able to take home a 'silver' coin with an authentic design from the Medieval era.

*An array of artefacts and toys within our mini museum to pick up and explore!

*A 'Danger Table' featuring replica weapons - learn the names of different pieces and what they were used for.

*Wool Spinning - learn how clothes were made.

*Authentic games

*Role Play and drama activities

*Brass and wood rubbing activity with option to do some quill writing

*Optional add on activities

Kings, Queens & Castles Workshop photograph

school trip at Kings, Queens & Castles Workshop

school groups Kings, Queens & Castles Workshop

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Where we travel to

We can visit your school in: East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, North West

What activities are available during this school workshop?

This workshop is aimed at those in KS1 and includes the following:

*2 practitioners who arrive in costume and remain in character to host your workshop and really bring history to life!
*Interactive History Timeline
*Mini-Museum full of replica artefacts from the past!
*Our very own Show & Tell Weapons table.
*Coin Striking - each students get to take home a coin that they helped make.
*Castle Drawing Activity - students will get to take home any art that they created.
*A drama based role-play game to look at the job roles of people who lived in a castle and what the Royal Court was like.

Which curriculum topics do we cater for?

English

Storytelling Fairy tales Myths and Legends

We explore storytelling and look at the myths and legends of castles, including famous individuals, as part of our workshop. We use storytelling as a tool to learn how castles were originally built, how they transformed into palaces and how people used to live in them. What were their jobs? What was the most valued job to have in Court? During the workshop, we also look at the words for different components of castles; for example, drawbridge, moat and gatehouse. What part of the castle do these words refer to and what does that area of the castle do?

Design Technology

Fashion and textiles Materials Architecture

Throughout this workshop we will look at why castles were built the way they were? where is the best place to build a castle? Children will then decide which design they would choose and how they would build their own castle.

Medieval Click to expand

Castles

Explore the daily life of people in the Medieval times! We bring our mini-museum of artefacts for the students to explore in a hands-on and engaging workshop session so we can find out the answers to all their questions! What was it like to have lots of money? What did they eat? What did they wear? What jobs did people in the Castle Court have? How were coins made? How did the poor live differently from the rich? How do you defend a castle? Everything we bring can be held with and played with by the students, and all activities are hosted by our Living History Actors.

Tudors

Henry VIII

This workshops covers a variety of history, but particularly focuses on the Tudor time period and looks at the reigns of it's two most famous Monarchs, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Our mini museum allows children to get hands on experience with a variety of artefacts from the time and learn about daily life. This workshop looks at how different it would be to be a royal compared to a normal villager.

Elizabethans

During this Key Stage 1 aimed workshop, we look at Medieval times - primarily Tudors for a younger audience. Using a mini-museum full of artefacts from daily life and weaponry, we can explore as a group how people lived in the Tudor/Elizabethan time period. What did they eat? What did they wear? What did they do for fun? How did they defend themselves? Our artefacts are hardy replicas that can be held, used and played with during the session and all activities are hosted by our Living History Actors.

Monarchs Click to expand

We know that Alfred the Great, who ruled Wessex, was classed as the first Monarch; and since then we've had a long list of them! In this workshop, we look at why Monarchs were so important to life in Britain during the Medieval era. Who was the most famous Monarch? What did they do? How did they live? who worked for them in their castles? What rules did they decide upon? Would you want to be the King or Queen or prefer to be a member of the court? Our role play game looks at the job roles within the castle...who will get to be in charge and who will have the not so fun, smelly jobs?

Human Geography Click to expand

Settlement and land use Population

What did people need to look for when finding a good place to live? Was their good farming land to grow crops? Was there plenty of water? If you were building a castle, where would you put it? On a hill so you could see everything around you and quickly see an enemy army coming your way? Or would you put on lower ground surrounded by trees so you could hide yourself from the enemy? Picking a good location for your home settlement in the past was a pretty big deal! In our workshop, we explore how castles were made, how they adapted and eventually grew into bigger palaces throughout the Medieval time period. Was there a most popular place to live?

What size groups do we cater for?

Group sizes will depend on the time frame and space you have available. We are very flexible and can create bespoke programmes for small class sizes, to the full school cohort. To get the most from your session, we usually suggest working with a class of 30 students with the session lasting 1.5 hours; this allows time for any questions they might have and to allow ample time for all students to experience the mini museum fully.. These sessions can be repeated with additional groups of students throughout the day.

Access for visitors with disabilities

Yes, we cater for children of all abilities and can adapt our sessions for full inclusivity.

Visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Absolutely, if you let us know in advance of any special requirements we will always work with you to ensure the workshop is accessible to all.

Anything else?

Although we do have a framework for our sessions, we are always adaptable and very flexible with the delivery and content - allowing us to build a workshop completely suited to your needs and learning outcomes. We have a 'not one size fits all'' approach with any prospective school, group or club. If you need something specific for your school visit, just give us a call to chat about how we can help you!

Who are ReachOut Educate?

ReachOut Educate deliver interactive workshops and ‘experience days’ to schools and a variety of different social and educational settings.
With many years experience in a broad range of educational subjects, working around the world with students from EYFS right through to adult education, the ReachOut Educate team are confident in creating and delivering learning programmes that match our ethos 'Building Confidence Creatively'.