The Plague Workshop
Past Productions Education LTD
School Workshop Online Workshop
Our Plague workshop is designed to give students a real varied flavour of how England dealt with one of the worst times in our country's history. Teachers like to book our workshop because we offer a wide breadth of activities, including; handwashing technique, drama, artefacts, themed photoshoots, craft activites (optional in some workshops) and a big quiz that usually rounds off the days learning.We send in costumed characters to run our days. For the Plague, they will either get to meet our Plague Doctor (Doctor Bob). By the end of the day the children will have a greater depth of understanding about the England survived through the period.
Lots of teachers love us specifically because we focus a lot on Oracy (through drama). We believe in building confidence for every child and take great pride in sometimes being the first people to help some students open up and find their own inner voice to be able to share in front of others.
When we have more than one class for the day, we run a round-robin of activities with us running some and teachers running the other so the students get a fully immersive day.
Current special offers for school groups
Local Schools Offering
Our cheapest prices are for schools closest to us. We are based on the Wirral, so advantageous pricing is given to schools on the Wirral, in Chester and the Liverpool area.
valid until: August 2027
Multiple Workshop Discounts
We offer discounts if multiple bookings are made for the same academic year. Bookings must be made at the same time, so we do advise if you have a history co-ordinator to have a chat with them to see if we can help fill any gaps in the history curriculum that you currently have.
valid until: August 2027
New School
If you are a new school to us and you've had other quotes from providers, we promise to match any quote or beat it by upto 10% if we're able to. We do pride ourselves on having some of the most best value prices out there.
valid until: August 2027
Where we travel to
We can visit your school in: East Midlands, West Midlands, London & South East, East of England, South West, North East, North West, Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland
What activities are available during this school workshop?
INTRODUCTION - We start the day where the students will meet the character and get an overview of the topic before moving into more immersive activities for the rest of the day. This is also a chance to try on some costumes if the students haven't already come dressed for the day.
DRAMA - The students will create scenes to perform using props and line prompts (covering all parts of the Plague as it hit the town of Eyam)
ARTEFACTS - The students will get a chance to handle high-quality artefacts that have been specially sourced for our workshops. We are constantly adding to these as we find new items.
HANDWASHING GAME - We use some invisible hand gel to show the students how easily germs can spread.
OLD PLAGUE CARDS GAME The students can play a fun game based on the classic Victorian "Old Maid" cards. It helps to teach vocabulary and adds an element of suspense as the last player holds the Plague card!
BIG QUIZ - We love to finish off our days with a big quiz to test the students knowledge they've gained throughout the day. When time doesn't permit for us to fit this in, we are always happy to send this to teachers so they can use it at a later date to stick down knowledge.
DRAMA - The students will create scenes to perform using props and line prompts (covering all parts of the Plague as it hit the town of Eyam)
ARTEFACTS - The students will get a chance to handle high-quality artefacts that have been specially sourced for our workshops. We are constantly adding to these as we find new items.
HANDWASHING GAME - We use some invisible hand gel to show the students how easily germs can spread.
OLD PLAGUE CARDS GAME The students can play a fun game based on the classic Victorian "Old Maid" cards. It helps to teach vocabulary and adds an element of suspense as the last player holds the Plague card!
BIG QUIZ - We love to finish off our days with a big quiz to test the students knowledge they've gained throughout the day. When time doesn't permit for us to fit this in, we are always happy to send this to teachers so they can use it at a later date to stick down knowledge.
Which curriculum topics do we cater for?
Medieval Workshop
Black Death and Medicine
Discover and deepen your knowledge of the Plague using our workshop that incorporates drama, games, oracy and a big quiz to round off the day! Our costumed characters will transform your learning experience into a memorable and engaging event that will leave students with a thirst to find out more. Our aim is to promote a love of history and inquisitive questioning.
What size groups do we cater for?
Our ideal group is between 1-3 classes for a days workshop. The day is split into a round-robin style of activities. We can accommdate 4 classes when behaviour is of a good standard, but we would recommend booking a second day (at a discounted rate) to allow for our best learning experience.
Groups with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)
Behaviour & flexibility
Individual needs discussed before visitFlexible activity pace
Flexible scheduling
Staff support
Staff experienced with SEND groupsLearning & communication
SEND-friendly workshops
We try to tailor all of our workshops to the needs of the audience that we are presenting too. For any schools that have any profound learning needs, we do request a phone call so that we can assess the needs and that what we can offer is going to be suitable and accessible for the majority. Some things that we can do are:
- Simplify Activities (e.g. instead of drama where the students split into groups, we do activities as a whole group that reinforces either the stories or information that is conveyed in the original material).
- Meet participants beforehand to go over any costume changes / day activities
- Send things in advance to be put into Braille or simplified/checked by teachers for appropriateness for their cohort
Teacher Checklist
Enhanced DBS Check
Get Risk Assessments
Resource Packs
£5m PL Insurance
Anything else?
If you have any specific wishes for your history workshop , please let us know in advance. We will always try to accommodate your wishes where we can (time and resources permitting).
Who are Past Productions Education LTD?
We provide historical workshops for schools nationwide in the UK. We believe in the power of drama to bring learning to life - this underpins all of our workshops and planning. We come to your school and bombard the students with a variety of activities (including drama, quizzes, artefacts, costumes and creative writing).
Our aim is to immerse the students and give them an overall understanding for the topic. We have been used to kick-start, reinforce or to celebrate the end of the topic with a consolidation of their learning.
We source our artefacts from unique traders. We always allow the students to handle what we bring in with us.
Every enquiry gives you a chance to win trips and workshops for your school - We are giving away a free trip for every week of the Autumn term!
