We're at the site of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Abbey site, and
we've taken some students around today to look at the key parts of the Abbey
but also go on to the battlefields and look at what it was like on the
battlefield site.
We've got quite a lot of free resources actually that you can use when you come to a visit to battle Abbey,
we've got our lovely teachers kit, we've got
pre and post activities in there as well as resources that you can do on-site.
English Heritage have produced a really, really good resource kit for schools
to help support the learning of the students around this site. It guides me
towards the key areas, it helps me build my teaching around the visit, and our
students found it really useful. It pointed them in the direction of things
that they found really exciting and engaging, and overall we know we're
delighted with the resources they've produced to help students learn.
Well, I've learned some gruesome things about the battle, and about the building,
as that most of it was destroyed.
I would describe it as very beautiful, historical
and very informative. A great place to visit.
To stand on that battlefield and go this is where it happened, this is where
England changed forever and just get an idea of what it was like is absolutely vital.
They can see the battlefield, they can get a sense of how exhausting it
would have been running up the hill, which I think they really enjoyed, but
also an appreciation of the scale of the Abbey. And we can wrap that around their
knowledge learning within school and it helps them engage with it and produce
some really impressive history pieces.
I'd recommend a visit to battle Abbey for teachers just
because it's a great way to get kids out and about and stand on the site where
history and the battle happened and it's a great way to get your students engaged
with the topic.
The thing that I most enjoyed was probably trying to lift the shields and
the armour and the weapons, which was quite interesting and how heavy they
were and how they managed to run up and down Britain with that.
It's an amazing place and it's...well, it's a bit better than the classroom!