Thirty Kent primary schools are taking part in DIG IT 2009 project. Dig IT is a joint project involving the Advisory Service Kent and English Heritage (EH.) An opportunity for Key Stage 2 pupil’s to become history detectives and discover who has lived and settled in Kent over the past 2000 years.
Pupil’s from seven Kent primary schools attended the Activity Day at Richborough Castle, Sandwich on Wednesday 20th May 2009. During the morning the pupils took part in a range of enquiry based activities (linked to the Key Questions listed below) led by Ian Coulson (ASK History Advisor) and staff from English Heritage, Canterbury Archaeological and Wessex Archaeological Trusts.
Key Questions
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How has the area changed over the past 2000 years?
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What did the town Richborough look like 200 years ago?
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Describe the daily life of a Roman Soldier?
Morning Workshops
The fort and the Arch
Daily life of a soldier
Roman Artefacts and Relics
Living in the fort
Maps and the local area - What happened to the sea?
Archaeological Activity - Learning about the Past
Afternoon Activities
Following lunch the pupils were introduced to Marcus a Roman Legionary. Besides learning about life under Roman Rule the pupils practiced some of the marching skills used by the legions in battle.
Story writing
Next term the pupils will be writing and publishing on the Making the News website stories about “The Battle of Richborough” re-telling the storming of the town by the Jutes.
To help the pupils plan their stories they spent the final part of the day in the castle creating “freeze frames” and discussing:
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Why did the Jutes want to invade Britain?
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Which part of the town would the Jutes have attached first?
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What weapons would the attackers and defenders have used?
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How would the Roman soldiers have defended the outer walls?
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Why was the siege ultimately successful?
Richborough Castle
Photos from the day
Richborough Castle Follow-Up FlashMeeting Activities
Visit the main Dig IT website