A vistor from the distant past visits Year 4

Year 4 had a visitor from the distant past as a Roman Centurion paid us a visit talking all about the Roman occupation of Britain. The day kicked off with an in-depth look at his armour and weapons, including some pretty grisly ways in which they were used.

Next we took on the roles of Romans and Celts examining different battle formations that both sides used, armed exactly as the two factions would’ve been armed. The Romans were shown to be brutally effective as only an organised army can be.

Roman artefacts next, and we examined dozens of archaeological finds from the last 2000 years found right here in the UK. The children discovered why it is that metal is the most common artefact found, and why the quantity of evidence increases the closer we get to modern day.

After lunch we looked at the timeline of the Roman invasion, sorting our Hadrian’s from our Nero’s and our Claudius’. We also had a PE lesson in the form of throwing spears at our enemies. Well, PE mats anyway. Some of the children are absolute naturals at it, bringing us much hope for our athletics events this year.

Finally Centurion Agrippa opened a mock debate with the children pretending to be the different Celtic tribes deciding whether to fight or work/trade with the new imperial presence. The tribes narrowly voted to work with the Romans deciding that the prudent thing was to avoid loss of life in needless wars. There seems to be many lessons in the past we could embrace today.