Milford-on-Sea Church of England Primary School Academy Trust
We 'CARE' Courage, Aspire, Respect, Explore
Butser Ancient Farm Roman Trip
On Friday 24th November, Year 3/4 visited Butser Ancient Farm as part of their Roman topic. We all had to get to school early to start our Roman adventure, and at half past eight, we were off!
We started our visit in the roundhouse, sat on animal skins around a fire. The roundhouse was from the Iron age, so that we could see what England was like before the Romans invaded. They didn’t have windows back then, and the fire was their only form of central heating, so it was very dark and cold in there!
We then split up into our classes to go and do our different activities. It was really interesting to learn about all the different things the Romans did all those centuries ago in their day-to-day lives.
One of our activities was spinning. We were shown how the Romans created their clothes out of natural materials to keep themselves warm. First, we were given some wool, taken from the sheep that lived on the farm. Then, we learnt how to twist and pull the wool into threads, which the Romans would have then woven into thick cloths.
Another of our activities involved putting our maths skills to the test using Roman numerals. We had to practise some Roman equations using slates and chalk, just like the Romans would have done. The hardest part was when we had to write the year we were born in Roman numerals!
Our last activity before lunch was brilliant, as we got to create our very own jewellery. For this, we needed a thin piece of wire and some pliers. The people leading the activities showed us how to bend and twist the wire into two spirals that wrapped around our fingers so that we had a shiny ring!
After eating lunch in the roundhouse, we had a tour around the Roman villa. First, we got to see how the Romans’ underfloor heating worked. Then, we saw the outside toilets – including the sponge on a stick, which the Romans used to clean themselves!
Inside the Roman villa, we saw lots of different types of art that the Roman people had in their homes. We also got to create some mosaics, similar to the ones that would have adorned the floors of Roman villas.
We all had a fantastic day and learnt a lot about the Romans and how they lived. We wish we could go back and visit again!