Learning outside the classroom

Dating back to Tudor times, St. Mary’s House covers a long period of history, and provides an ideal venue for school visits fulfilling many of the requirements of the National Curriculum in History for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, as listed below.

Download school visits information sheet.

Our tours begin in the early Norman period, and as we move from room to room we see the many changes that have taken place in St. Mary’s during its history, and the events that influenced those changes. By the end of the tour, visitors have travelled through 500 years of history. St. Mary’s is especially suitable for school parties, due to the ancient atmosphere of the house, yet at the same time it is still a lived-in home rather than a “museum-piece”. We talk about the monks, and the various other people who stayed here when it was a pilgrim inn. We see the King’s Room where Charles II is reputed to have stayed during his escape to France. We talk about Victorian times, the architectural changes made during that era,and the changes due to the introduction of gas and electricity. Furniture and artefacts from different periods can be seen, which allow today’s world to mix with elements of the past; we emphasise the continuity of St. Mary’s through its various ups and downs at different periods in its history.

History comes alive at St. Mary’s House!

Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7)

  • Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past- identify differences between ways of life at different times.
  • Historical interpretation – identify different ways in which the past is represented
  • Historical enquiry – find out about the past from a range of sources, including visits to historic buildings.

Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11)

  • Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past- identify differences between ways of life at different times.
  • Historical interpretation – identify different ways in which the past is represented
  • Historical enquiry – find out about the past from a range of sources, including visits to historic buildings.

Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14)

  • Historical enquiry – identify, select and use a range of appropriate information, including visits to historic buildings and sites
  • Britain 1066-1500 – eg, characteristic features of life, the structure of medieval society, the influence of communities of monks and nuns
  • Britain 1500-1750 – eg, Charles II and the Restoration, Elizabeth I