Coming to school dressed as Romans for the day, our Year 3s learnt all about the incredible strength of the Roman army with sessions delivered by ‘Claudius the centurion’. They learnt about the uniform that was worn and the weapons that would be carried, picking up a few Latin words along the way.
Split into teams, each class battled with Romans against Britons, learning how to hold a scutum and a gladius correctly and how to work together as a team to make formations that would protect armies (legions) of up to five thousand men. The testudo formation even protected men’s heads from rocks and boulders hurtled in their direction! The young Roman apprentices also practised archaeological skills, uncovering real artefacts delicately to find clues about the past, as well as playing some Roman board games and learning what it would have been like to be a scribe writing on papyrus with ink and a reed pen. The day even included the story of how Rome was founded by the duelling brothers Romulus and Remus and a whistle-stop tour through the life of the much-loved Julius Caesar who brought the Roman Republic to an end paving the way for the very first emperor of Rome, Emperor Augustus.
The children had an amazing day with their current history topic brought to life in front of their very eyes!
