Learning Programme

Focus:

When and why were canals built in the UK? How were they made and who made them?

Overview:

This session looks at the rise of the canal age in the UK, with a focus on the local Kennet & Avon Canal. We look at life in Georgian times, why the canals were built, and how the canals were built before working in groups to become chief engineers, designing our canal.  Children will then work in their groups to build their canals using materials we supply.

National Curriculum Links:

History

• Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally. 
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality. (KS1)
• A local history study. (KS2)

Geography

• Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key human features including village, farm, and house as well as key physical features including forest and hill.
• Use locational and directional language to describe the location of features and routes on a map. (KS1)

Human and physical geography: Describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water (KS2)

Focus:

What is Crofton Beam Engines?  Why was it built and how does it work?

Overview:

Crofton was built to pump water to the summit of the Kennet and Avon Canal. But how does our pumping station work? In this session, children will join in building a big model of Crofton, looking at the different features of the station and how they work together. 

National Curriculum Links:

History

• Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally. 
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality. (KS1)
• A local history study. (KS2)

Science

Uses of everyday materials (Year 2):  Identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses.

States of matter (Year 4): Compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases; observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C); identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Forces (Year 5): Explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object; identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces; recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

Focus

Imagine you’ve been to Crofton for a lovely day out, only to discover as you get ready to leave that the gate has accidentally been locked!  To unlock it, you need to collect the nine-digit code for the lock, travelling around the station and solving nine questions, which cover National Curriculum standards, to gain the code.

Overview

In this escape room style game, children work in small groups to solve a series of nine questions. Each question is related to a different area of the National Curriculum (English, History, Geography, Science and Maths) and is also connected to Crofton or the canal.

Each question takes about 10 minutes to solves and generates a number to unlock the code. The session is tailored for Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2, Upper Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3, and different groups can take part simultaneously.