Year 8 English Civil War experience in Newark! 2024

The History department took Year 8 students to visit the Civil War Centre in Newark on the 14^th and 18^th March. Students had a great day, enjoying a packed itinerary including  a role play activity on the trial and execution of Charles I (which included a great prop of his head!). They also were shown around the sights of Civil War Newark including a visit to the castle, where the visible marks of cannon balls can still be seen in the castle walls. Students also looked around the Civil War gallery and enjoyed dressing up in 17^th century clothing and armour. Probably the most fun part of the day was the Arms and Armour session where students had to guess the injury and fate of a Civil War soldier by the rather gruesome wound on the realistic prop on each table. They were then shown how to load and fire a musket and had to try to do this in 30 seconds (cue much hilarity - I'm not sure how well our Year 8 students would actually manage as musketeers!). A few students were then dressed as different soldiers of the Civil war era including pikeman and cavalryman with the rest of their group deciding how they should be dressed and which weapons to give them. Two excellent days - the museum have given a lot of thought as to  how to bring the Civil war to life and the students learned a lot about the English Civil War.