On the day, students engaged in a creative activity building catapults, competing against their peers in a mock siege of a castle. They also viewed a performance by James Adams Historic Enterprises, where they had the opportunity to learn more about the weapons and armour of the Middle Ages while also having the chance to dress up and test out some of the equipment (including on each other!). Finally, Year 7 spent the afternoon creating their own personal coat of arms to represent them and their families before using this to create a personalised shield.
Below are two testimonies from students on the day:
The day was an absolutely amazing experience. It helped me and my peers understand more about life in the Middle Ages with weapons, warfare, disease and torture tactics that make me squirm. My class and I started the morning off with the construction of little DIY catapults in teams. It was extremely fun, though my team didn’t win I had an absolute blast making it. After recess the year 7’s and I made our way to the auditorium for a stage show. I wasn’t expecting the show to be quite so entertaining. The presenter told us all the information in a straightforward manner and then demonstrated real props like armour on some of my peers. I believe the show is my favourite experience of the entire day and I’m proud to say I learnt a lot about the Middle Ages. After a delicious, free, sausage sizzle lunch, we learnt about how warriors used family crests to identify each other and what certain colours and symbols on the crest mean. Not only that but we got to make our own family crests too! I made mine to symbolise peace, balance and family. Overall the day was an absolutely incredible experience that I really enjoyed and would highly recommend for future years.
– Ashley Vella
On Monday 19 June we were very lucky to have an incursion about Medieval Day. The day involved a presentation about all sorts of medieval weapons such as the ballista. We also got to see most of the equipment the knights would wear in battle. We also got to see a practical demonstration of medieval punishments like the stocks. We also had a hands on experience by getting to make our own DIY catapult and also our own shield. When we built our own catapult it was really fun trying to get it to shoot into the cardboard castle. At the end of the presentation we were allowed to go and have a feel of the all the weapons and armour. It was a day full of good information and hands on activities that we wouldn’t normally get to experience.
– Isabella Walker
Robert Smith
HSIE Teacher