All Things Greek

Our 8s pupils enjoyed their first overnight stay on a residential trip to Ufton Court where they were transported back in time to Ancient Greece and enjoyed all things Greek. 

On arrival the children enjoyed a full day of workshops and activities. They worked in groups that were named after the Ancient Greek states and traded with one another at a market for the goods that they needed in order to survive. The Spartans were particularly pleased with some of their bargains!

 

They learned some key survival skills for living in the kind of house that everyday Ancient Greek citizens lived in - often made of mud or wood - and practised building wattle walls of woven sticks. They tried to strike sparks from a flint to make a fire and card wool so that they could make clothes.

 

Making bread and butter to eat was also a challenge and rather time consuming. For the butter they tried three different churning methods to make the milk coagulate and each involved a great deal of effort!

Life in ancient times was far from easy, something that Arabella (8REG) is quick to point out when she says, 'living like Ancient Greeks for two days showed us how much harder everything was for them.'

At the end of their first day, all the children dressed up in their Greek togas and tunics for their Symposium and banquet. They raised a  toast to the Gods and then ate dinner with their hands, as there were no forks in ancient times! 

Before bedtime, they listened to Greek riddles and myths whilst enjoying hot chocolate - one of the highlights for most of the children, in particular Appoline (8CMO) who says, 'I just loved sitting all nestled up on the cushions having hot chocolate and listening to Greek stories, it felt so cosy.'

The following day was just as action-packed with a Trojan war role play, a bow-making workshop and an Olympic Games activity. 'I liked taking part in the Olympics and seeing how different the games were then, particularly the long jump!,' adds Thomas (8CMO).

A special thanks to Kathryn Field, 9s Form Teacher and Humanities/English teacher, who organised the trip together with Head of Lower Prep Clair Foster. Clair has since taken the decision to include an annual residential trip for all Lower Prep year groups. Now children in the 8s and 9s will benefit from an overnight trip that will prepare them for three-nights of Bushcraft in the 10s. 'After an extended period of remote schooling and being locked down, we feel it is really important to help our 8s and 9s build up their confidence and independence again by spending a night away. As a History teacher too, I felt this trip was a great opportunity to bring the subject to life with lots of fun, hands-on learning,' she explains.