Great Whelnetham Church of England School near Bury St Edmunds enjoys Anglo-Saxon day with Spinning Wheel Theatre

Children were transported back in time to the Anglo-Saxon period when a theatre company visited their school.

Spinning Wheel Theatre came to Great Whelnetham Church of England School, near Bury St Edmunds, on Tuesday to perform a ‘Horrible Histories’ style play exploring Anglo-Saxon life.

It was designed to reinforce and embed Anglo-Saxon learning and create a positive ‘feel-good’ association with history, culture and creativity.

There were also hands-on activities and workshops as part of the Anglo-Saxon Experience Day for the Key Stage 2 pupils, allowing the children to explore areas of this period in time in a fun and practical way.

Head of school, Bobby Varela, said: “In the morning session, pupils in Key Stage 2 completed three workshops to enhance their understanding of the Anglo-Saxons.

“They used braiding techniques to create Saxon decorations, used ‘pinch out’ pottery techniques to create their own mini bowl and examined coprolites (Saxon poo) to learn all about diets of people from this period!

“In the afternoon, the whole school attended a show taking us back in time to learn about key events in Saxon history.

“They learnt (through song) a range of key facts and dates; meeting King Edmund and Alfred the Great!

“Pupils and staff had a fantastic day! It was great to see the pupils engaged at all ages, there was something for everyone in the afternoon performance.”