Local School gives Royal Approval to Ad Gefrin’s Great Hall and Museum
Bede Academy took Year 7 to Ad Gefrin to support the curriculum on Northumbrian Saints. A staff member visited the museum and was so impressed with the audio visual, they felt this was a brilliant way to tell the stories of Edwin, Oswald and Aidan.
The way this unit is taught in school incorporates evidence from the archaeological dig in Bamburgh, so the artifacts in the museum adds real value to this as a way of finding out about early medieval Northumbria. The trip was run as a joint History and Geography visit, due to the location of the site at Yeavering, which opened up discussions on the geography of the area and why this might have been chosen as a suitable site for the summer palace of the 7th Century Kings and Queens.
Bede Academy brought 60 students each day over four days. Thirty pupils went to the museum in the morning, and moved between the audio-visual and museum with demonstrations of Anglo Saxon weapons, games, and runes – as well as free time to explore.
The other 30 went to the field at Yeavering and explored the site looking at the geographical context, then marking out its limits and discussing the changing use of the site from prehistory to the Anglo Saxon period. This allowed discussion about the change in geography over time, and migration. Discussions around recent archaelogical digs allowed the school to emphasis the fact that interpretations of history develop over time.
The students enjoyed learning outside the classroom and having the opportunity to ask Ad Gefrin’s experts about the Golden Age of Northumbria and the world of the Anglo-Saxons.
The ability to be immersed in the audio visual of the re-imagined Great Hall and spending time at the site itself at Yeavering, helped visualise what life might have been like and why certain decisions like the palace location were taken.
Student enjoyment and engagement was high – Bede Academy is now the process of developing a meaningful visit for each year group in History and recommends this trip to History leads from other schools to underpin the Y7 curriculum on Northumbrian Saints.
Timeline
Ongoing
Project Partners
Organisations
Durham University
The Gefrin Trust
Schools Involved
- Bede Academy
Key Goals
- To get pupils learning out of the classroom and within the Northumberland countryside to see that learning about history can happen in a variety of settings
- To complement students’ in class learning – adding to their knowledge of the story of Edwin and Aidan by meeting experts from the museum and seeing real artefacts.
- To challenge critical thinking around themes such as power, equality, language, landscape and religion
- To engage children, parents and the wider community and raise their knowledge of local history
The onsite re-imagined Great Hall and museum at Ad Gefrin gives students an immersive experience into life at the 7th century Summer palace of the Kings and Queens of Northumbria, with artefacts from national collections such as The British Museum. Schools are able to take a trip to the archaeological site at Yeavering to stand on the hillside where the royal settlement was and walk where the Kings and Queens had stepped before
Ad Gefrin can tailor school visits and worksheets to link with the curriculum . They can also offer Ad Gefrin ‘on the road’, when a staff member (or even an Anglo Saxon) will come to school bringing replica artifacts for an interactive session. Ad Gefrin are currently working on loans boxes for schools to hire to deliver content in class.
The idea behind Ad Gefrin’s education programme is to bring an interactive/immersive experience to students, resulting in better engagement and understanding of a largely untold period of our past. This sits between the Roman and Viking eras, but during a time when Northumbria was pre-eminent in the world for its power and culture.
People travelled from North Africa, Europe, and Scandinavia to be at the court of King Edwin and King Oswald and to witness the first conversions of the Northumbrians to Christianity. This was at the cusp of moving from oral tradition to the written tradition so the perfect context for exploring language as well as history and geography.
Outcomes
Interactive Learning
The visit helped students to retain information they learnt during the trip, which was evidenced when they clearly included factual knowledge from the visit in the end-of-unit assessments.
Shared Experiences
These types of experiences help form bonds and friendships through shared experiences and lasting memories taken on to adulthood.
Developing Relationships
Bede Academy used this opportunity for form tutors to accompany their new Y7 classes, which deepened emerging relationships. It also gave history staff time to get to know a wider range of the new intake.
Impact
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