'Nature and Art’ Key Stage 2 Study Day

Dorchester Abbey Education Department in conjunction with the Hurst Water Meadow for the first time launched a joint full day art workshop initiative to create a ‘Nature and Art’ study day for our local St. Birinus Primary School in October 2011. Over 30 Key Stage 2 children were able to take advantage of this exceptional experience where they spent half the day in art workshops at the Hurst Water Meadow and the other half at Dorchester Abbey. At the Hurst they were able to create artworks using natural materials inspired by the work of the famous 20th C British artist Andy Goldsworthy. The artworks they created used leaves, acorns, twigs and other found objects arranged to evoke innovative patterns ranging from spirals and undulating lines of leaves to carefully arranged acorns ‘lids’, thus introducing the children to the role of colour, pattern and line in art and nature.


At the Abbey the pupils were introduced to the fantastic range of art and architecture dating from the 12th to 20th C originally inspired by nature. The architectural and decorative progression of which was best seen in the Abbey’s Cloister Gallery displays, as well as throughout the Abbey with its rich sculptural, glass and painted decorations. Children were introduced to this rich fabric of history and encouraged to find inspiration from these original medieval craftsmen, for example to create their own version of our remarkable Jesse Window.

It is hoped that this small-scale pilot project will develop into a much larger programme involving many more of our local Oxfordshire schools taking part in the not too distant future!

Pilgrimage and Worship Inter-faith Key Stage 2 Study Day 15th June 2011

The Pilgrimage and Worship Inter-Faith study day was a great success, being attended by 173 children from five local Oxfordshire schools, with over 20 teachers and adults accompanying them. The Bishop of Dorchester even dropped in for an afternoon visit to see us in action!


We represented the four world faiths of Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity, arranging them into four individual areas of focus, with each session being presented by members of the relevant faith community. It was a fantastic demonstration of co-operative faith in action! The four faith sessions took place simultaneously, with schools subdivided into small groups enabling them to meet and interact with pupils from other schools. At the beginning and end of each session we rang a bell to signal the end of the session and to create a moment of reflection for the children before moving on to the next faith presentation. Three sessions took place before lunch and the final one after lunch, with a final plenary where some children were able to contribute their thoughts about what they had learned during the day.

Judaism was located in the St. Birinus chapel, Christianity used the high altar and the Shrine Chapel, Hinduism was located at the west end of the nave and Islam was accommodated in the Abbey Guest House. Both Hinduism and Islam incorporated Powerpoint presentations, as well as demonstrations. Hinduism had two faith providers with a focus on worship at a shrine and the role of food as part of puja, with a shrine set up and demonstrated to the children. The children were given small packets of sweets and dates to take away with them. Islam had three faith providers with a focus on the role of prayer, the impact on genders, the mosque, fasting and the Hajj pilgrimage.

Judaism had two faith providers with a focus on the festival of Shavuot, the celebration of Sabbath and the role of the synagogue, with children being given challah. The Christianity session examined the High Altar before going to a mock up of an altar, where the Eucharist was re-enacted.



Some of the children were able to dress up as medieval pilgrims and take part in a ‘Medieval Pilgrim Hot Seating’ session where they could ask questions about pilgrimage. The children were each given a shell brooch to take away with them as a memento of the day. In addition, as part of the day each child was given a pilgrim’s passport that was then endorsed by each faith area after the children had visited each one.

We had a range of very positive responses from both pupils and teachers. Here are some of the comments they made:

Children:
‘Thank you for showing us about the different religions. I really enjoyed it. I learnt about pilgrimages.’
‘We all loved the day trip to Dorchester Abbey. Thank you for letting us come. It was lovely. I really enjoyed it because I have not been there [before]. It was fun. I liked the bit where we said Om. I learnt about different religions. It was fun.’
‘Thank you for arranging the trip to Dorchester Abbey. I would really like to go to Dorchester Abbey again for another day. I learnt that in March at springtime they splat paint at each other. I really liked the Islam because it was interesting and very good.’

‘Thank you for arranging the trip. I really enjoyed it. I liked learning about Hinduism.’

‘Thank you for arranging the trip, it was so good. I really enjoyed it. The Christianity part and the pilgrimages were good. I learnt that pilgrims have shells on their tops and hats. Also I learnt that Christian’s wine was grape juice for the children.’

Teachers:
‘We learnt a lot about each religion – the practical parts were most enjoyed.’
‘The chance to compare the four faiths in a day was fantastic and really helped the children to see the similarities rather than just think about the differences.’
‘The Christian workshop was by far the most interactive which was very motivating...’
‘The organisation was very good and the day flowed well. The contributors of all faiths were very welcoming, warm and friendly… All the children said their favourite part of the day was the 'Christian' presentation - the children liked the dressing up, getting up and moving around and found [the] hot-seating both interesting and fun.’

















Blogged by Margaret Craig, Education Officer for Dorchester Abbey

Activities Day in Dorchester - Monday, 14th March 2011

This day was organised by Ridgeway branch of the U3A (based in Watlington) as part of the Thames Valley Network’s Riverside Project and over 100 members turned up. We were really lucky to have a lovely sunny spring day, which everyone enjoyed. Participants were greeted on arrival in the Abbey by coffee about 10 a.m. and then heard a fascinating illustrated talk on the history of Dorchester and it’s Abbey by Margaret Craig, the Education Officer.

She was followed by John Metcalfe MBE, who talked about the multi-million pound restoration project, which has been only recently completed. Jane Sellwood nobly stood in at short notice to make a presentation on the Industrial History of the Thames to a smaller interest group.

Lunch, in various local hostelries or sandwiches in the sun according to taste, was followed by a range of activities. Some members chose a Natural History visit to the Water Meadows with one of the leading conservationists. Others took a conducted tour of the Abbey and St Birinus Church with Margaret Craig and Fr John Osman respectively.


Six energetic people were driven over to lunch at the Wagon and Horses at Culham, from where they undertook the six mile walk back to Dorchester along the Thames Path.





Another group strolled down to Day’s Lock for an explanation of its workings and that of the weir from David Stanley, the duty lock-keeper.







Two groups ‘Walked into History’ around the village under the expert guidance of Professor Malcolm Airs and Mrs Margot Melcalfe, both very knowledgeable local historians.

Tea and cake back in the Abbey rounded off the day. Many, many thanks to those of our members who helped make it a success. Many thanks also to all the experts who gave lectures, led groups and generally shared their knowledge with us all in so generous a manner. This surely is what “lifelong learning” is all about.

www.u3atvnetwork.org.uk

The U3A is a worldwide organisation for retired and semi-retired people who are interested in lifelong learning. There are around thirty-five branches in the Thames Valley area alone so there is certain to be one near you. Further details may be found on our website. If you are interested why not come and join us. We are a university in the true meaning of the word with no entrance exam and no degree at the end but we have fun and improve our knowledge of a huge range of subjects with lectures, visits, study days, interest groups and activities.

(Blogged by Susie Berry of Ridgeway U3A, Thames Valley Network)

Discovering Dorchester Archaeological Schools Visits and Public Open Day 2010

Saturday 24th was a very busy Excavation Open Day on the allotment site for the Discovering Dorchester Community Archaeology Project, with well over 250 people visiting the site. This was the culmination of the July excavations by Oxford Archaeology and University of Oxford students; as Education Officer for the Project, I was pleased with the very enthusiastic response of children and adults.

My name is Jo Richards (seen in background of picture below right). I have worked in professional archaeology throughout my career; for many years as an archaeological illustrator and reconstruction artist, and more recently in the field of archaeology education, heritage interpretation and exhibition design. As a freelance adviser I also demonstrate late medieval plant use and 14th century needlework. I believe the current term for this is ‘portfolio working’!

This is my second summer in Dorchester-on-Thames, since I was recruited through Oxford Archaeology South. I work closely with Oxford Archaeology and the University of Oxford, who are directly responsible for the archaeological excavation programme, thereby providing a broadly historical and site-specific educational programme. In conjunction with the educational work at the dig I collaborate with Margaret Craig at Dorchester Abbey and John Metcalfe of Dorchester Museum, and we have had a very successful season, with over 70 pupils from two local schools visiting the excavation on the allotments site.

On these visit days, we ‘rotate’ groups between the abbey, museum and excavation, where children and their teachers and helpers have a site tour to see archaeology in action. There is a dedicated education marquee, and children can experience a number of activities including finds-washing, using micro-digs, examining tiny snail samples under the microscope and design their own roman coin/roman road/roman pot. After a site tour, I give a brief introduction to timelines, local history and what archaeologists do, including a chance to try on a hard hat, high-visibility jacket and a pair of enormous steel-capped boots!

It doesn’t stop there! There are Roman and Saxon Loans Boxes available for Oxfordshire schools to borrow free of charge throughout the year. I am available for pre-visits to schools before the excavation season starts, and in 2011 we are looking to expand this opportunity further. A number of teachers and parents have been very enthusiastic about the opportunities for hands-on experience of archaeology – there is no better way to enthuse the local community about the impressive and unique historic landscape on their doorstep.
(Blogged by Jo Richards, Discovering Dorchester Archaeological Educational Officer)

Educationally Unique

I have always felt that Dorchester Abbey can offer everyone, from the young student to our more mature visitors, a fabulously unique educational experience. This has been brought home to me this week more than ever as the Abbey hosts NAPE’s annual Festival of Voices. This event brings primary schools from all over Oxfordshire together to sing in unison within the beautiful Abbey setting, conducted by Kevin Stannard and Peter Hunt. It was enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience of parents and siblings and some dignitaries, including the Mayor of Wallingford and his wife.

As I sat listening to the Tuesday night performance it struck me how it recalled the earlier medieval traditions of the Abbey when the monks would have sang in plainchant in the choir, the area where the 300 children were staged en masse, their high voices resonating in the vast Abbey space. The varied musical programme offered a range of songs from around the world, such as the traditional Congolese ‘Banaha’, the swirling melody of the Ghanaian ‘Senwa Dedende’ or the Jamaican 'By the Rivers of Babylon' where we were all encouraged to join in, to more popular tunes such as Abba’s ‘Money, Money, Money’ and Elvis’s ‘Jailhouse Rock'.

The children clearly enjoyed themselves with plenty of smiles and jiggling gestures when required! The final song of ‘World in Union’ evoked a sense of social harmony and accord world leaders can only aspire towards. As a collection was taken for ‘Save the Children’ the children provided an encore reprise of a few of the melodies, to the great enjoyment of the audience. Their performance highlights how much so many owe to so few, as these massed children and parents do to the teachers, conductors, musicians and all who assist with the staging of this tremendous week long event.

As this event demonstrates every school visit to Dorchester Abbey is unique, just as every individual child is unique. In the week prior to this one I hosted an educational visit to the Abbey for over 60 children. Because each school is as unique as each child I aim to create an equally unique visit. Thus I enjoy being able to meet with schools before their visits to the Abbey, thereby discussing particular syllabus requirements, individual ideas and to explore aspects of mutual interest for their students.

Although the school had enjoyed previously visits to the Abbey they were excited by the opportunity of exploring new educational trails and innovative activities, resulting in a programme that included a religious and cultural ‘scavenger hunt’, an investigation of our knights and the heraldic window enabling them to design their own coats of arms, as well as the perennially popular activities of sketching and brass rubbing. They also enjoyed combining these activities with their own personal written responses to the Abbey which culminated at the end of the day in a selection of the best ones being read out by the students from our Victorian pulpit. The variety of responses ranged from personal prayers to astute descriptions of the space, but each pupil read their contribution out with the lilt of excitement in their voices and an extreme sense of achievement.

In addition to these events I have also been going out to meet teachers and introduce them to what the Abbey and Dorchester has to offer them and their classes through INSET presentations. The current educational watchword is ‘cross-curricular’, which is something Dorchester excels at! As well as the obvious RE (Religious Education) links, we have history, geography, art and architectural heritage, and music in spades! Not to mention the many other links we could make. The wealth of history not only the Abbey, but Dorchester and its geographical surroundings, has to offer is certainly unique. I explain how Dorchester declares the significance of its past geographically to the children from afar before they even arrive, as they see the two domineering mounds of Wittenham Clumps and then the Abbey tower becomes just visible through the trees as they approach the village.

I have demonstrated our newly arrived Museum Loans Boxes, which contain original artefacts and replica items from the Anglo-Saxon and Roman periods, complete with lesson materials and supporting books, all of which are free for schools to borrow. This initiative has already proved to be very successful for the schools who have borrowed them so far. We are also going to stage a Key Stage 2 ‘Pilgrimage and Worship’ study day for schools in June 2011, which is currently in the initial planning stage and which we might develop further Loans Boxes.

July sees the return of our Musuem-Abbey-Archaeological site visits, where schoolchildren have the opportunity to see archaeology in action and try their hand at some dig-related activities. Just the type of method that brings history to life for students and teachers alike! (Go to http://discoveringdorchester.blogspot.com/ for further information on the Dorchester Dig!)

Here ends another educationally unique month, I look forward to many more!!

(Blogged by the Abbey's Education Officer)

An Education Officer's Outlook

I am relatively new to the post of Education Officer at Dorchester Abbey, having taken over in January 2010 from the previous officer who had been in the post for 3 years. It has been a fantastic experience so far, just being able to walk into the Abbey as a working space is amazing, particularly when you think of the people, such as the monks, who have worked here before me over the centuries! It is a positive joy to get the opportunity to introduce people, particularly children to the beauty and history of the Abbey and see their little eyes light up as they look up with awe at the stained glass windows, to think about what the pilgrim’s shrine means and just how old the Abbey is! They give you an insight into the innocence of the believers of the past who must have traversed great distances to visit the Abbey and experience its space, spirituality and potential healing powers.


On Wednesday of last week we had a school visit of about 40 year three children from a local school, which was only the second school visit I have had the pleasure of organising and participating in. The children were brilliantly behaved and thrilled by the sheer scale of the Abbey space. They provided some stimulating responses to their first encounter with it as they sat for a few moments of quiet to ‘drink in’ the sensations of the Abbey. Many of them noted how small they felt in relation to the Abbey’s scale, but they also spoke about the nuances of sounds and impressions that greeted them in their moments of quietude, that ‘almost silence’. But children are always funny when you ask them to guess how old something is – any grandparent who has ever been asked if they were alive when the dinosaurs were around will certainly recognise a child’s tendency not to grasp vast time periods! Many of the children thought the Abbey could only be about 100-200 years old, but were visibly astounded when one girl piped up ‘about 900 years old’ and she was deemed correct! Murmurs of great surprise could barely be quieted!

During their visit the children undertook a series of organised activities including my tour of the highlights of the Abbey, brass rubbing, sketching, Abbey Quiz, Abbey search and plan identification. The Abbey was a hive of activity and the children overlapped slightly with a local art group who were here for inspiration, but the artists enjoyed observing the raptures of the children who were intent on their various endeavours during their visit. The children are always enthusiastic about every aspect of their visit, but one of the two things they love the most is our medieval ‘sleeping knight’, William de Valance and our facsimile St. Birinus Shrine. They love the shrine because they can sit and pretend to be a pilgrim of old, looking up at the unusual bosses and supposedly being close to the bones (ugh!) of St. Birinus.
Knights and their exciting endeavours always enthral the children, and they particularly love to work out that the ‘sleeping knight’ actually has his eyes open and appears to be ready to bound up and attack anyone who comes near, with the lion he visibly crushes at his feet a symbol of his strength, bravery and powerful faith. On a more frivolous note they also love to discover the fact that you can see his underwear!

At lunchtime the children were very lucky with the sunny weather, enabling them to enjoy their lunch in the Cloister Garden and the opportunity to burn off a little energy on the daisy sprinkled grass. After their Abbey activities they also undertook a brief walk in the village to note the various buildings of different ages and styles, including the ever-popular former coaching inn complete with its fascinating old coach in front. I love the follow up work which schools do with their pupils and it provides one with a feeling of great satisfaction when you can see how the Abbey can stimulate the imagination and creativity of young minds. Although I have yet to see follow up work from the most recent visit, the previous school sent through some fantastic stories that the children had written fuelled by their Abbey visit.


Children are not the only visitors who come to explore the Abbey and its artefacts. Earlier in the week I had a very earnest couple, ‘Midsommer Murders’ guidebook in hand looking for our Green Man. They had difficulty deciphering the description of the location of it from in their book, luckily I was able to point them in the right direction as they said they never would have found it otherwise!

In complete contrast to the school visit was another pleasurable part of my duties as Educational Officer and that is my involvement with the South East Cathedrals Educational Officers Association. We meet three times a year, once in each of the traditional old school terms: November, February and May. These meetings give us an opportunity to exchange educational ideas that have or have not worked for us, report on recent training we have undertaken or provided and to offer advice and stimulus to one another in our roles. As my position at Dorchester can sometimes be relatively secluded I particular relish the opportunity of meeting with my fellow education officers. In February I went to Chichester and was wonderfully fired up by their stained glass workshop for children and their large brass rubbing collection. The latter led me to try and investigate the possibility of building up a collection here as a potential enticement to schools as part of their visits.


This term’s meeting was hosted by Alex O’Connor of Southwark Cathedral, London. We had quite a full meeting (10 of us!) and an intensive morning where we discussed marketing issues, home educators, providing stimulating family activities, NIACE training, our role in relation to the 14-19 Diplomas, providing RE inset and new initiatives we have introduced. Following a delightful sandwich lunch those of us who didn’t suffer from vertigo were given the opportunity to climb the tower (once the organ recital had finished) and see the surrounding views it had to offer. This was entered into with some trepidation by a few of us, the spiral staircase to the top providing barely enough room for a skinny youth to climb, let alone an ensemble of education officers (n.b. What would be a good collective noun for education officers?)! Once part way up we were able to traverse the walkway over the roof of the nave, where we could see the peaked roofs of the vaulting beneath. This appears pretty much the same in any Gothic vaulted cathedral, for example Salisbury, and more of interest to those with an architectural bent (which I count myself amongst)! We also were able a quick peek at their impressive 12 bells, again of interest to those with bell-ringing inclinations (yes, me again!).




Finally emerging on the lead roofing we were greeted with a fabulous view of the Thames and a superb view of St. Paul’s – much appreciated by Laura (the former Education Officer there who is now establishing the education department at Westminster Abbey). You could spy Battersea Power Station in the distance, Big Ben, the London Eye, 30 St. Mary’s Axe (aka the Gherkin), Monument, and in the distance behind the hulking brown h shaped contemporary building you could just spy Tower Bridge and the ramparts of The Tower. But a dominant visual note was the ever increasing height of the new Shard building destined to be the tallest in the UK (310m or over 1,000ft in ‘old money’) when completed in 2012 (hmm, what will that be timed to coincide with I wonder….?!).(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shard_London_Bridge) For those interested in architecture, it is designed by Renzo Piano who was responsible for the Kansai Osaka Japan international airport and more famously worked with Richard Rogers on the Pompidou Building in Paris.

Following our grateful return to earth (we didn't quite feel the need to kiss the floor of the nave, but I'm sure it crossed some of our minds!), Alex showed those stalwarts amongst us around the cathedral, most of which is a Victorian reworking by the dreaded George Gilbert Scott (are there any Gothic churches, abbeys and cathedrals out there that escaped his renovating talons?). It was interesting to note they have a wooden knight who is similar in appearance and date to our own 'sleeping knight'. I was very surprized to bump into someone I new in the retro-choir who was 'Walking the Cathedral Cities of England' (hello again Carolyn!)! The entire day was a huge success and we all went away feeling inspired by our visit and fired up to pursue various ideas on our returns to our respective patches!

If you’ve managed to make it this far – congratulations! I do hope you’ve found these glimpses into my role as an Education Officer of interest and if you enjoyed this I’ll be posting another blog next month, which will cover preparation for more school visits and the up-coming archaeological dig, amongst other things! But please look again at next week’s blog where Sue, our Rector, will report on her current visit to Kenya, and that, I can assure you, is certain to prove a more fascinating read!
(Blog posted by Margaret Craig, Education Officer)

The Abbey DABbler - The New Dorchester Abbey Blog!

Welcome to the Abbey DABbler! The DABbler is the new name for our regular Dorchester Abbey Blog.

We have decided to implement a new Dorchester Abbey Blog! Every week different members of the Abbey community will blog about what they are up to, what's going on in the Abbey and what's coming up. There'll be a chance to hear at first hand some of the inside stories associated with our events, read about our plans and get to know some of the people who make up the the community that works, worships and has fun around the Abbey. As well as hearing from Sue, our rector, we will also have blogs from our Education Officer, new curates, students, Abbey Friends and many others who use and experience the Abbey and its environs in many different ways.

'Tune in' every Tuesday to see the latest blogs to 'hear' what has been happening in relation to the Abbey in the previous week!