Bellarine students turn back to the Middle Ages

STUDENTS from Bellarine Secondary College’s Ocean Grove campus stepped back in time recently as part of their classes on history.

During Term 2, Year 8 students have been studying the Middle Ages (900-1500 AD), so to complement their learning and to make the period come to life, teachers decided to bring the Middle Ages to the school.

Medieval Education, a Melbourne company specialising in bring history to schools, was engaged to run the day.

They ran eight activities, with all students rotating through each one during the course of the day.

The activities included Crime and Punishment, where students learnt about the beginnings of our legal system, and the ghoulish and bloodthirsty punishments used back in those days. These included thieves having their fingers cut off, and scolds and liars having their tongues split.

In the Weapons and Armour activity, students learnt about knights and the weapons and armour they used, while in the Tournament, students learnt about battles and how knights trained and lived.

In both activities, students tried on the gear and were surprised at how heavy the items were. Students also learnt about the differences in clothing worn by the rich and poor over hundreds of years.

Heraldry showed that coats of arms were important, whilst in the Troubador session many people enjoyed themselves when they had time off from working or going to church.

In the Three Cultures, students learnt about Islam, Japan and Europe in the Middle Ages. Overall it was a great day for students and staff, and everyone learnt a lot and had some fun experiences learning about history.