Anglo-Saxon Workshop

The Year 4 children immersed themselves in Anglo-Saxon life, to begin their next topic in humanities with a bang! The workshop was run by ‘Wulfric’, an Anglo-Saxon guard to the King, who lived in Britain over 1,000 years ago. He led the children back in time and built a picture of life in Britain, when the country was divided into different kingdoms, each ruled by their own leader. As a consequence of this structure, there were many power struggles to gain and maintain control in Anglo-Saxon times and the only king who actually managed to bring unity to the separate warring tribes was Alfred the Great.

Through active role play, they learned about the quick succession of various kings. They then worked in groups to explore the key factors that would make a good and successful ruler and the attributes that a leader would need to possess to maintain control of the land. The children, as royal advisors, had to decide who should succeed Edward the Confessor to become the future king of England, by working collaboratively to prioritise the traits and characteristics of a good leader. Their final task was to put forward a strong case to persuade the Archbishop of Canterbury (Mrs McVean and Madame Iss!) who should succeed as king!