J1 Trip to Murton Park

This week pupils in J1 went on a trip to Murton Park for a Viking experience day!  

Upon arrival, pupils were greeted by the lovely staff at Murton Park who welcomed them into the hall to have an introduction to York’s Viking history, and then pupils and staff alike got into character with Viking costumes. J1 was divided into four groups, or ‘families’, and pupils were selected to be the ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ to represent their family throughout the day, speaking to the ‘Lady’ of the village and the other characters helping teaching activities.  

They entered the Viking village and learned about the exciting tasks they would learn throughout the day, such as guarding, pottery, baking and traditional Viking games. Families took turns doing each activity, with a nice break for lunch in between. 

Many pupils said their favourite part was the ‘guarding’ activity, where pupils donned shields and spears (with safe rubber tips) and were taught the formations used by Vikings to protect their villages from raids. They had to call their newfound skills to action when a make-believe raid suddenly occurred near the end of the day, and pupils responded bravely by driving the invader away and were rewarded with a banquet.  

The students had a great time getting involved with the hands-on interactive learning which follows along with the historical period they had been starting in the classroom. Teachers will use the experiences from Murton Park to help contextualize their lessons in the coming weeks.