We are really pleased to announce that we have received funding from the Paston Footprints project in order to create 2 brand new workshops. Defending the Castle and Tudor Shopping are initially availble for the first half of the Autumn Term only, in order to tie in with the current exhibition Finding Paston Footprints: 400 years of Norfolk Life.

There are limited spaces available and with 2 schools already booked in you will need to act fast in order to secure your place. Find out more about the sessions and whether they will benefit your pupils, below.

Defending the Castle

This workshop is aimed at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils so whether you are studying castles, following the topic with a curriculum provider such as Cornerstone’s Towers, Tunnels and Turrets topic or looking for a local history topic this is for you.

The session starts with a quick introduction to the Paston family and their ownership of various houses around Norfolk, including Caister Castle. Next, we move on to the siege of the castle. Pupils watch an animated video before having a go at story sequencing.

Pupils get to discuss what makes a good castle, looking into building materials and defensive structures before deciding on whether the design of Caister Castle helped in the Paston’s fight to defend their property.

Finally we look at cracking the heraldry code. In which we talk though why people had coats of arms, and how these were divided up as marriages took place. We work with the Paston coat of arms to engage in some embedded maths, by looking at the fractions that the coat of arms was divided into.

Key Stage 2 pupils follow a similar lesson plan, but using slightly trickier resources.

Tudor Shopping

This workshop is aimed at Key Stage 2 pupils studying the Tudors. In this workshop pupils will be introduced to the Paston family before meeting Richard Calle, the Paston’s senior steward, who will talk them through his journey to the local market town of North Walsham, to buy supplies for the coming week.

Pupils will talk about the differences of going shopping today compared to in the past and learn how shopping didn’t change for many years. Finally they will have a go at shopping in the Tudor period by playing our shopping game and visiting a number of different market stalls found in North Walsham at the time.

Finally pupils will get to have a look at an inventory from a local shop, discovering where different spices came from during the Tudor period. They will be able to smell and look at different spices in order to identify them.

If you would like to book either workshop, or need more details please contact the Education and Outreach Team.

We look forward to hearing from you!