The year 5s from Highlands Primary were invited to be the first class to experience our brand new ‘York Your Way’ trip.
After meeting at Hull Station, we took the relatively short train journey to York ready for our day. For many of the children this was the first time they had been on a train or even left the city of Hull and was the start of an exciting adventure!
Arriving in York, we headed straight out for our walking tour. Each child was given a peppercorn to look after without being told why. Once we reached Lendal Bridge, however, all was revealed and the children were informed that the peppercorn was the historic payment for entering York.
After all debts had been settled, we carried on through the museum gardens and onto Bootham, passing the Rowntrees' Homes, St Peter's (the third oldest school in the world), and Mary Ellen Best’s former home. Following a quick stop outside of Joseph Rowntree's house and a sneaky Fruit Pastille in his honour, we carried on into the centre of town towards the magnificent York Minster.
It was here the children were taught about other famous ‘Yorkers’ including William Etty, Guy Fawkes, and numerous Viking and Roman leaders who had once ruled this city. Next up was The Shambles, one of York's most famous streets. Many of the children were big Harry Potter fans so the excitement for this section of the tour was through the roof!
We then diverted past Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma gate, the shortest street with the longest name, and onto Coopergate, at which point the children all worked out their Viking Names. Most children became known as Slayer, Bloodaxe or Ironside but it was rather unfortunate for our Learning Experience Manager, Rebecca, who will forever now be known as Rune Halfhand.
After a quick stop for lunch, we visited the Castle Museum. Here the children were able to experience what life was like on a real-life Victorian Street, complete with sounds, smells and even weather! All the shop fronts were rescued from demolition from York itself and brought to the museum to create the street. We headed through the museum, to the existing prison cells housed beneath the old courthouse where prisoners would await either transportation or execution. This section of prison has been untouched and again, gives the children a real-life experience of what life would have been like for prisoners in the Victorian era.
Once finished it was time to head back to the train station for our journey home. All of the children picked their favourite Yorker from the people we had spoken about and told us how much they would like to one day return to York. I, personally, cannot wait to take more children on this brilliant experience!
Shaun (a.k.a. Sigrid Ironside), Learning Experience Lead