Wakefield Children as Writers at a Historic Site and Access Team 2005 1. Introduction Sandal Castle, like any historic site, is wonderful for inspiring children’s creative imagination

Wakefield Children as Writers at a Historic Site

Creative Writing for Learning in History at KS2

Ann Hamblen Writer and Creative Writing Teacher [email protected]

Angela Rawson Wakefield Museums and Galleries Education and Outreach Officer

[email protected]

Learning and Access Team 2005

mailto:[email protected]


CONTENTS 1. Introduction/Why creativity? 2. How to use this pack

Once we’re there … the Sandal Creative Writing Project

• During the visit: activities on site • "Here's one we did earlier" - poems by Year 3 and Year 6

3. Making your own visit • Before the visit: organizational checklist • Before the visit: classroom activities • During the visit: resources available • After the visit: classroom activities

4. Resources

• Pupil sheets – senses sheet, additional cards, etc. • Background information on the castle including images of castle and the

handling materials

Medieval “Living Castle” Civil War “Dying Castle” Interesting finds

• Sources of further information/material



1. Introduction

Sandal Castle, like any historic site, is wonderful for inspiring children’s creative imagination – this is a place very different from school or home, completely new and strange to many children, and full of possibilities for discovering and making meaning.

This pack is the result of a literacy project which ran at Sandal Castle in October 2004 and February 2005 involving classes of KS2 children. As part of the project children experienced the site as it is now, found out what it had once been like, and worked together with a creative writer to put together pieces of imaginative free verse for group performance to evoke change over time.

We hope that this pack will enable other teachers to take our activities and adapt them for their own use, at Sandal and at other historic sites.

Ann Hamblen Writer and Creative Writing Teacher [email protected]

Angela Rawson Wakefield Museums and Galleries Education and Outreach Officer [email protected]

April 2005



Why creativity?

We welcome the encouragement we have all received from the QCA’s most recent publication on creativity1, to restore this vital dimension of all exciting learning experiences for children and adults alike.

The QCA reminds us that:

First, [the characteristics of creativity] always involve thinking or behaving imaginatively. Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed to achieving an objective. Third, these processes must generate something original. Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective. 2

and we believe that these four characteristics are evident in the approach we outline in this pack. Below are just some of the strands of the QCA “recipe” for managing a richly creative learning culture which our project schools were providing for their students:

1 Creativ2 All ourQCA, 20

Learnin

Fire pupils' imagination through varied learning experiences

• give pupils first-hand experiences through visits and contact with creative people

• use stimulating starting points such as artefacts, problems, stories with human interest

• make activities relevant to pupils' lives

Build partnerships to enrich learning

• work with other agencies to get new ideas and access to resources

Provide a stimulating physical environment

• stimulate pupils' curiosity by ensuring they have first-hand experience of natural and made objects, and the natural and built environments

• celebrate creative learning in shared spaces, classrooms, outside areas and beyond school.

Extract from QCA 2003

ity: find it, promote it QCA 2003 Hwww.ncaction.org.uk/creativity/H

futures: Creativity, culture and education National Advisory Committee report DfEE 1999 (page 29), quoted in 03

g and Access Team 2005

2. How to use this pack This pack contains a description of the activities that took place during the original projects in October and February. The activities can be copied exactly or adapted for use with your own class in mind. As you look through this pack, it will become clear that the children involved in the pilot were guided through the activities at speed! Each group spent just two hours on the Sandal site. The activities and the times given therefore relate to this. For a more relaxed visit it is envisaged that the activity could take around 3 ½ hours including a break for lunch on the site. Once we’re there … the Sandal Creative Writing Project

• During the visit: activities on site • "Here's one we did earlier" - poems by Year 3 and Year 6 • Some other activities for use on site

During the visit: activities on site Stage 1: Tour the site

After arriving on site, children made a brief tour of the castle. This was done before visiting the centre and was done as a whole class. Children were split into four groups each glued to an adult (this site, like most, has its danger spots!) and were asked to think about what they could see, hear, touch and smell now. To reduce any historical influences the children were discouraged from asking “historical” questions at this stage. They were asked to give their group’s adult some of their sense impressions in as much detail as they could, completing the sentence starters, “I can see …”, “I can hear …”, “I can smell…”, “I can touch…”. The adults acted as scribes, using the senses sheet provided in this pack. Around 20 minutes was spent on this activity, though more time could be spent here.


Stage 2: Creating verse three – The Castle as it is now.

Returning to the Visitor Centre, Anne (Creative Writer) asked the children to think about their sense impressions from the tour of the site. She then asked them to give her examples, thinking about alliteration, onomatopoeia, imagery and simile. These were collected and scribed onto one sheet of flipchart paper, pointing out that many really good detailed sense impressions may not get included, but could be used in individual/small group poems back at school. Each line of the verse was the completion of one of the sentence starters used above e.g. “I can see …”. This was the pattern set for all three verses. Some of the sentences needed a little tweaking, but most fitted into the poem frame without much change. Again Anne spent 20 minutes on this activity.

Stage 3: Creating verses one and two

Verses one and two required the children and adults to carry out research using the displays in the Visitor Centre as well as artefact evidence, both real and replica, from the site. The children worked in the original four groups with at least one adult per group. Two groups were asked to work on the “living castle”, and two on the “dying castle” (Civil War). The groups used particular areas of the displays and objects from the handling collection (see back of pack for further details). Each pair of groups swapped activity half way through, so that every child spent time in the exhibition, and time examining artefacts and other evidence. The instructions for each working group can be seen on the following page. A larger version can be found at the back of the pack. These instructions can be cut out and laminated for use with your own class.



Working Groups for the activity – A minimum of four adults are needed for this activity

GROUP A Living Castle (Verse 1) Time: 20 mins then swap with B Task: You are living in the castle as it develops and grows. What can you see?

What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you touch? Collect sense impressions. Look at images, artefacts – everything you can find in your area of display. Imagine you are there!

Resources: Exhibition - everything except the Civil War section

GROUP B Living Castle (Verse 1) Time: 20 mins then swap with A Task: Explore the artefacts and images. Some of the artefacts are real, and

some are copies of artefacts that were found or used here. All date from the period through which the castle was growing, changing and in use. Imagine you are there amongst the hustle and bustle of daily life. What can you see? What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you touch? Collect sense impressions. What can you work out about life in the castle?

Resources: Artefacts / replicas / images of finds from the castle / artists

reconstruction images

GROUP C Dying Castle (Verse 2) Time: 20 mins then swap with D Task: You are living in the castle as it comes to the end of its useful life. What

can you see? What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you touch? Collect sense impressions. Look at images, artefacts – everything you can find in your area of display. Imagine you are there!

Resources: Exhibition area dealing with the Civil War GROUP D Dying Castle (Verse 2) Time: 20 mins then swap with C Task: Explore the artefacts and images. Some of the artefacts are real, and

some are copies of artefacts that were found or used here. All date from the last use of the castle in the Civil War when the Royalists tried to hold it for the King and were defeated. After this the Parliamentarians destroyed much of what remained of the castle. Imagine you are there and see them in use. What can you see? What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you touch? Collect sense impressions. What can you work out about life in the castle?

Resources: Artefacts / replicas / images of finds from the castle / artists reconstruction images

Anne then repeated the feedback exercise, asking the children to give her their sense impressions from the “Living Castle” and the “Dying Castle”. Again the children were encouraged to make their impressions as creative and imaginative as they could. The impressions were scribed into Verse 1, and then Verse 2, one flipchart page each, by gathering individual sense impressions from Groups A and B, and then from Groups C and D. This activity took 40 mins.

Stage 4: Putting it all together

When all three verses are created, the poem can then be read as a whole. Verse one looks at the “Living Castle”, verse two the “Dying Castle” and verse three as the Castle is now. From our experience, this is the stage when the children go “Wow! Did we do that!” Any sense impressions not included in this poem can be taken back to school and used to make individual poems or used to improve or adapt the original poem when there is more time. This activity took 20 minutes.


Stage 5: Putting it all in context –

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ourage the children to visualise the dence from the site itself. This was a site. Unlike the first tour, the childred its history. By having some knowuch as where the bread was bakedns were found. This time the site in

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"Here's one we did earlier" - poems by Year 3 and Year 6 Here are two poem drafts produced by children during the first week of the pilot project, by Y6 and Y3/4 students. The footnotes to the first of these indicate what kinds of research fed into some of the lines produced, to work with the children’s own previous experience (real or virtual), and their capacity to imagine and empathise. Sandal Castle October 2004 Once there was smell of strong chicken stew1

animals grazing in the fields below cattle screaming as they are slaughtered for food hooves slapping on hard-packed soil2 yellow-orange flames flickering in the dark3

trumpets calling4

people murmuring, charging about, shouting gates creaking open and shut5

Then there were dead bodies, war-killed, lying on the ground sword slicing through my heart jewellery, armour, fallen, littered blown-up fiery castle cannon balls flying, gliding through the air6

punishing the castle stench of defeat people fleeing from the burning castle7

men shouting orders to each other rotting flesh, prisoners dragged away babies crying, horses neighing

1 Interpretation of evidence of cooking pot (artefact handled) and found remains of bones/list of larder contents (card/display material) 2 Display material in the visitors’ centre exhibition. 3 Candlestick – part of handling collection 4 Account payment to musicians (card) 5 Artist’s reconstructed image 6 Handling collection 7 Illustration from castles reference book in visitors’ centre, and from exhibition material.


Now there is wind whistling in my ears8

trees blowing, rattling brown rocky ridges wooden snake-like steps by rocky ruins wind blowing in my face gas spreading viciously in the distance Wakefield rugby ground

Wakefield city spreading across the land whole giant entire city little birds singing their quiet songs, robin tweeting wet soggy crumbly stones crisp wet grass gentle breeze through trees

Havercroft J&I Y69

8 This verse was constructed first, as soon as the children arrived on site. This is all the direct evidence of their senses in the here and now. 9 Notes from Anne’s journal for this group’s visit:

- really enthusiastic and open – believe in themselves as learners – museum a.m. - very good relationships with their adults, easily include me - good questioners - experienced - loved the stories of the ring and the dead bodies - desperately keen to make sense of history – “Did the Germans bomb it?” On site, children

reveal what they know and don’t know – want to fit it all together. - some really talented users of compressions of language - twig very quickly – naturally introduce

personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, repetition and rhythms that re-enforce meaning.

- sense of pride in their creation and in their new-found ownership of this place: “Can we take our poem with us?” “I’m going to get my mum to bring me here!” “I want to get my mum here and tell her all about it!” - completely different kinds of questions when we walk the site at the end of our work together

– much more focused. E.g students who’ve studied the garderobe cleaning image want to know exactly where … also where the bodies were buried, where they are now, where the ring was found …


Sandal Castle October 2004 Once there was clanking of iron-shod hooves smell of roasting meat heat from the cooking fire echoing noise of busy castle banging of working people sweat dripping off very smelly people crunching shovels ringing and banging creaking doors, barking dogs ringing of heavy armour screaming and shouting horrible water, stale, smelly, damp loud trumpet music Then there were cannons firing at the walls cannon balls smashing the building trumpets announcing attack people crying wind, and stones falling from the walls

skeleton in the dungeon men falling, screaming dogs running up and down, scared soldiers bleeding Now there is a big white lake a ruined well like a jungle inside, bars on it ruins of the castle a man jogging up and down the steps dogs barking, traffic humming footsteps on wooden stairs creaking wind whistling, blowing the trees people talking

Standbridge Y3/4


3. Making your own Visit If you wish to make your own visit and use this pack, the following includes guidelines for booking as well as ideas and suggestions for work at school before and after your visit.

• Before the visit: organisational checklist • Before the visit: classroom activities • During the visit: resources available • After the visit: classroom activities

Before the visit: organisational checklist

• Contact the education team on 01924 305902 to make a site booking. You will need the following information:

• Date(s) of proposed visit(s) • Time of proposed visit – Please note opening hours! • Name and contact details of school or group • Number of students and leaders in the group • Age or Key stage of the students • Reason for your visit • Any special requirements e.g. disabled access

• Visit the site to complete a full risk-assessment relevant to your class. Guidance

can be found in this pack. Refer to the LEA’s Educational Visits Health and Safety Handbook available in all schools.

• If you would like help with planning your visit, please contact the Education team on

01924 305902

Before the visit: classroom activities

• Ensure children arrive on site ready to collect detailed sense impressions of the present remains and surroundings. You might practise using the senses sheet (see resources section) in the school environment before you come to Sandal.

• Find out what an archaeologist does? What does they find and how do they and

others use their finds? Use, for example, the handbag/dustbin game; see the English Heritage gem, A Teacher’s Guide to Learning from Objects (see resources section) for more ideas.

• And/or organise a visit from the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (see resources section), which offers free activities to schools.


During Your Visit

Resources Available on site:

• Exhibition displays • Handling collections* • Laminated images of the castle* • Laminated instruction cards* • Pencils*

* Please note that these must be booked in advance

Other possible similar writing activities that can be carried out on site:

1. Battle of Wakefield

Collect sense impressions of the view over battle site now:

Now there is ……

then work from artefacts, artist’s reconstructions (battlefield and castle) and text to create the first verse:

Once there was ….

Helpful pamphlet: The Battle of Wakefield Dockray and Knowles, WMDC

1999

2. Who am I?

Choose a castle-dweller with a particular job or function. Evidence is available in the visitors’ centre display, books, libraries, or on the internet. Carry out your research, and gather information on a sense impressions sheet.

Imagine you are this person and write their sense impressions of castle life in the first person:

An example is on the following page.


Who am I? Model: POEM FRAME

Cook at Sandal Castle (title – substitute chosen occupation/function …) Each day (use this opening …) I smell hot bitter smoke, wood burning (choose three senses – 2/3 lines each …)

rich venison roasting – not for me- fresh bread baking I feel my sweat trickling down my back under my rough wool jerkin stained dark with grease I hear my own harsh voice shouting when the fires burn low raging when the water’s spilt screeching when the spit’s not turned and the venison’s burned I’m burned up by fire, roasted by my anger (now one idea or thought or feeling …)

3. Castle Challenge Sheet

Use the Castle Challenge worksheet to look at evidence or images and think about questions to answer. Use the evidence in the Visitor Centre, or information found through books or the internet to find out the answers back at school. The worksheet can be found in the resources section.

4. Asking Questions - 5 W’s + How

Use the 5 What? When? Where? Why? Who? And How? Sheet to highlight questions you would like answering (Thanks to Wendy North, Advisory Teacher, Primary Humanities, WEAS, for these ideas). The aim of this sheet is not to initially answer the questions but to inspire curiosity in the student which can then be used on site. The answers can then be found using a variety of sources, including asking the staff! An example of this sheet can be seen on the following page, completed by a Year 4 student.

SAMPLE (with thanks to Nathan, Y4.) Asking Questions - 5 W’s + How

Look at this image carefully. Discuss it with a talking partner. Fill in some really good questions that you’d like answers to. Later, in class discussion, you may get some answers, or at least some opinions, or you may have to do some more research. (Not all questions have answers!)

What? What fish are they trying to catch?

What is the bucket for?

When? When do they do this? (Every day? Just in the summer? For fun? For food?)


How? How did the lower down man get there?

Where? Where in Sandal Castle did this happen?

(I think it’s the moat, but it doesn’t look quite right.)

Why? Why have these men got scarves tied over their faces?

Who? Who drew this picture? Was he there?

Who are these people? Are they the rich men or the servants?

These sheets are for genuine questions, which other members of the class may be able to answer, or may have opinions about. The important thing is that children shall feel safe and confident to ask the things they really want to know, thus revealing all kinds of interesting assumptions we’d never be able to engage with otherwise. Nathan enjoysfishing and immediately interpreted the net in the obvious, to him, sense. He was highly delighted when another member of the group could show him the garderobe on the site and tell him what really happened there! These are excellent questions. Well done, Nathan! Try other images on these sheets. Use images in any form and get the children to write questions on a separate sheet.


Back at school …

• After the visit: activities back in school

The whole class shared poem, in its three-flipchart sheet form, can be celebrated again back in school. The lines can be divided between individual children and small groups for a variety of effects in performance. Sharing at assembly, with or without projected images, works beautifully. Children can produce individual/small group poems, in the same form, practising control and choosing order and length of lines, uses of alliteration, onomatopoeia, imagery, far more consciously than was possible in the limited time available at Sandal. More research, more detailed historical exploration, based on a wider range of more general, as well as specific, castle resources, can feed into the new poems. Use a selection of the resources provided in this pack – projected for discussion, or printed on “sheets to make you think” like the samples included as Castle Challenge and Asking Questions – 5 Ws + How to extend knowledge and understanding, and provide more material for individual poems. See also other possible writing activities on site section. These, too, could be followed up, re-drafted, extended, etc.

4. Resources

All the resources and worksheets are available to download from the mylearning website. These include:

• Pupil worksheets – e.g. senses sheet, group instruction cards • Image gallery • Background information on the castle including:

Evidence of the Medieval “Living Castle” Evidence of the Civil War “Dying Castle” Interesting finds from the excavations Chronology of the Castle Accounts of the Civil War siege of Sandal Castle


Sandal Castle in the Middle Ages

Learning and Access Team 2005 Sandal Castle in the Middle Ages

Sandal Castle in the Middle Ages

Sandal Castle during the Civil War (17th century)



Sources of further information/material

Leaflet

Sandal Castle Wakefield Museums and Arts Books

Sandal Castle, Wakefield Lawrence Butler, Wakefield Historical Publications 1991 Sandal Castle Richard Bell, Willow Island Editions 2001 Learning from Objects Gail Durbin et al. , English Heritage 1990 The Usborne Book of Castles Lesley Sims, Usborne 2003 (This book is “internet-linked” and has useful websites which can be easily accessed. Other castle books for younger readers contain useful artists’ impressions of castle life.) Inside Story: Extraordinary Buildings Unfolded Nicola Baxter, Franklin Watts 1997 (Kids love the fold-out cross-section of a Norman castle.)

Sandal Castle Excavations 1964 – 1973 Philip Mayes and Lawrence Butler 1983

Images Sandal Castle drawn about 1560 - available from the Interpretation shop Exhibition material and artefacts

Excellent and rich displays at the Sandal Castle Visitors’ Centre, where handling collection may be used on site More finds are displayed at Wakefield Museum, Wood St. (01924 305356) The site-specific printed material mentioned above can be purchased at both these museum sites.

People

The Visitor Centre Assistants on duty at Sandal Castle site are very knowledgeable and helpful. Pam Judkins, Wakefield MDC Keeper of Archaeology, is an amazing resource of information and stories about the castle, its life, death and excavation. Contact: [email protected]


Documents

Wakefield Children as Writers at a Historic Site and Access Team 2005 1. Introduction Sandal Castle, like any historic site, is wonderful for inspiring children’s creative imagination