Pupils at St Martin’s Garden Primary School in Bath have been finding out about their home city this term, with their Learning Enquiry ‘A Tale of Two Cities, Bath and Bristol’ supplying a full of exciting learning opportunities.
The Learning Enquiry was launched with the children and staff from the school dressing up as historical, aspirational or inspirational figures from the region and collecting information cards on each of the personalities featured. These famous figures ranged from Mary Berry and Banksy to Caroline Herchal, King Bladud and Jane Austin.
The children have also learnt about the history, geography, art and scientific achievements of both Bath and Bristol, as well as considering how each city is the same and how they are different, why are they cities and why Bath has UNESCO world heritage status.
As part of the studies, Year 1 pupils learned about Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his engineering feats, including the SS Great Britain and the Clifton Suspension bridge, and even built their own bridges over the River Avon.
Mr Bogg, History Lead, challenged the children to an ‘I-spy Challenge’ trail around Bath and Bristol during the half-term holidays, where they were encouraged to photograph, draw or write about the landmarks and information they found. All the children who took part received a historical novel or fact book about a significant individual from history.
Excitingly, Duncan Beedie, local author and illustrator, Zoomed into classes across the school to share his love of writing and drawing. From Molly’s Moon Mission to The Lumberjack’s Beard, the children thoroughly enjoyed listening to his stories. They also created some amazing illustrations of their own with Duncan’s expert guidance.
St Martin’s Garden pupils also took part in on-line model making workshops with Jim Parkyn, Senior Model Maker from Aardman Animations. The workshops were great fun, with the children creating their own Aardman characters. Jim also led a discussion about his life as a model maker and the exciting projects and films he has been involved in. They had an amazing day!
Mrs Parfitt, St Martin’s Garden Head teacher and Specialist Leader in Education, said, “The whole staff team have worked hard to ensure the children have had memorable learning experiences over the last two terms, despite all the changes in schools.”