Yesterday Year 5 had a wonderful day at the Ashmolean Museum, learning about Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. 

They started the day off with a workshop, where they learnt about the River Nile and its importance to the Ancient Egyptians as a life source. Afterwards the children went on a treasure hunt to find artefacts, and discover their uses. They realised that there were many similarities between us and these ancient civilisations, finding in the museum display cases: games, jewellery, make-up, and even an ancient water bottle made from an ostrich egg!

Whilst exploring the museum the class discovered the 2,700-year-old shrine of King Taharqa, which had been shipped over from northern Sudan in 236 pieces in 1936. They were fascinated to find out more about the god Amun-Ra, as they looked more closely at the clues engraved on this ancient shrine.

During the next part of the day the class were able to handle real artefacts from ancient Egypt: a mittor, a bronze battle axe and the base of a statue.

After lunch Year 5 were able to spend some time exploring the Ancient Greece gallery of the museum, and enjoyed sketching some of the artefacts they found there.

To finish off the day, pupils and staff discussed the similarities and differences between the two civilisations, with a particular focus on the pillars of our Holy Redeemer History Curriculum: lives of children, society, civilisation, and culture and beliefs. What an amazing way to bring their history learning to life!