Activities Autumn 2007

As part of the HLF-funded redevelopment of Somerset County Museum, we have created many new and revised sessions, linking in sources from Somerset Record Office. From September learning team staff and resources are coming direct to schools. With no coach costs these sessions make excellent value for money.

Site based activities are still available at the Rural Life Museum and Peat Moors Centre.

Reception and Key Stage 1

Victorian Toys and Games – Rural Life Museum
Interactive session linked to ‘How are our toys different from those in the past?’

Victorian Homes – Rural Life Museum
Active session linked to ‘What were our homes like long ago?’ Dress in costume and either cook in the farmhouse kitchen or experience a laundry activity depending on the season.

Toys of the Past – in school
Explore toys of the past in a lively session linked to science and history. Play with old toys and compare old and new playthings.

Key Stage 2

Meet the Celts – Peat Moors Centre
Experience the atmosphere of a Celtic Iron Age roundhouse, help to wattle and daub and build a new house, take part in an archaeological dig and discover the preservative properties of peat.

Romans in Somerset – in school
Discover more about Roman life in Somerset, includes handling real Roman objects

Victorian Homes – Rural Life Museum
Dress in costume and either cook in the farmhouse kitchen or enjoy a laundry activity. Handle real objects and explore the life of a 19th century farm labourer.

Victorian Somerset – in school
Investigate life in Victorian Somerset using real objects and documents

Victorian Working Life on the Farm – Rural Life Museum
Dress in costume, make butter, winnow grain, scare birds, collect apples, feed chickens and use a seed fiddle.

Wartime Somerset – in school
Handle objects, use local photos and archive documents to bring alive Somerset’s wartime story. Focus on propaganda, civil defence, evacuees or rationing/make do and mend.

Second World War – Rural Life Museum
Handle original artefacts, undertake wartime cooking, follow an evacuee’s trail and operate an ARP stirrup pump.

Key Stage 3

Medieval Realms – Rural Life Museum
Explore farming, architecture and the monasteries through the magnificent 14th century Glastonbury Abbey Barn. Learn to thresh and winnow dressed as a medieval peasant and handle a range of original and replica objects.

Monmouth Rebellion: Judging the Past –in school
Investigate a range of sources and objects from 1685 to get a closer understanding of several people linked to the Monmouth Rebellion. Available from December 2008

Slavery and the Slave Trade – in school
Discover Somerset’s involvement and connection with European trading patterns. Use an individual dramatisation of Coleridge’s Lecture on the slave trade, fascinating authentic plantation records, original objects and other documents.

Costs and how to book

Primary and Secondary information
Please contact the learning team to book your sessions or to find out more. Call 01823 362847 or email heritagelearning@somerset.gov.uk

Or please look at the Schools Autumn Newsletters 08

In-school sessions

Enhanced subscribers – free
Standard subscribers - £50 per group of up to 35 pupils
Pay-as-you-go users - £100 per group of up to 35 pupils

A zoned mileage charge from the resource base in Taunton applies to all bookings:
0-5 miles £5
6-15 miles £15
16-25 miles £25
26-40 miles £40
Over 41 miles £60

On-site sessions

Rural Life Museum
Enhanced subscribers – free
Standard subscribers - £1.75 per child
Pay-as-you-go users - £3.50 per child

Peat Moors Centre
£4.50 per child per session. If you book for the whole day the cost is £5.50 per child. Adults free
Call: 01458 860697
peatmoorscentre@somerset.gov.uk