Departments > History

Tudor History Morning

Sebastian Hamilton (1H) describes the History Department's Tudor Activities..

"On Thursday 22nd May, all of the Upper Shell and First Form gathered around in the Little Cloister House to have the Tudor morning. We were split into groups and went off to the first room. My group did :-

1. Fox and Geese

We had played this game before in class but now we were going to learn the mathematics in it. The board is like a chessboard but the sides are brought in (see shape of board picture.) Then one person is the fox and one all the geese. The fox has to jump over all the geese to capture them, but if he is cornered so that he can't escape, he is trapped and the geese win. It is incredibly hard to win as geese, and no one in my group won being them!

2. Tudor music

We then met in the maths room with Mrs. Walters and listened to three pieces of music on a tape and had to guess which one was Tudor. After successfully guessing the correct one we got to the drums and keyboards and learnt how to play that piece! It was great fun with a lot of laughs!

3. Tudor classroom

Now came the part most of us were waiting for. We had seen Mr. Evans dressed up and heard him shouting out rules but now it was our turn.. We were greeted by an angry teacher and told all the rules we needed unless we wanted the cane. We were taught about Tudor school dinners (YUCK!!!) and about how they would write things before asking questions about the school. It was great fun and we all learnt a lot, even while we were laughing at Mr. Evans' costume!!!

4. Tudor portraits

On entering our next room we found Mrs Hobbs also dressed up. We were then taught all about Tudor paintings. Then in threes we went to different places and looked at a picture of a famous Tudor person and answered questions about it.

5. Tudor quiz

Now for the part we weren't so keen on, the quiz. We were given questions and had to go around using the posters on the walls to answer the sheets. It was better than I expected and I learnt a lot too.

6. Henry VIII

Possibly the most famous King ever to rule England, Henry had an amazing life. We had a leaflet all about him and his 6 wives. Then we had a big board with Velcro tabs on and we had to put the correct picture under the correct person. After a lot of confusion and help we got there but it was time to leave.

It was a most enjoyable morning and I learnt lots. Definitely a good idea!