Year 7 History students dressed as gladiators or pharaohs on Friday 1 June as part of an incursion on ancient civilisations, while Year 8s learnt about medieval times when the organisation History Up-Close visited again on Wednesday 6 June.
Each incursion gave the students a way to consolidate their learning. It gave students the opportunity to touch, feel and ask questions of experts on the topic.
Here are some of the student reflections about ancient civilisations from the Year 7s:
The first part of the incursion was with Gina, who was dressing us up in ancient Egyptian, ancient Roman and ancient Greek clothes. Gina taught us the reasons they wear the certain types of clothes. The second part of the incursion was about gladiators where we got to wear different pieces of armour and two lucky people got to fight … and I was one. I can definitely say it was a lot of fun fighting in different armour with different weapons. That incursion was great fun and all of us really enjoyed it. — Spencer Hill (Year 7 Red)
On Friday we had an incursion that was about ancient civilisations. There were two parts to the incursion: one about ancient clothing, the other about gladiators and how they fought. For the first part, a lady brought in items of clothing that the ancient Romans and Egyptians used to wear, and we got to try them on. There was the clothing of farmers, priests, pharaohs and emperors, just to name a few. The second part was all about gladiators and soldiers. We learnt the differences between Roman, Greek and Egyptian armour and weapons. The Greeks mainly used bronze, but the Romans used predominantly iron. It was a great incursion and I learnt many things. — Campbell Manser (Year 7 Red)
Friday’s incursion was fun. I like the style of learning that this incursion gave (very hands-on). I especially loved looking and dressing in Egyptian, Greek and Roman armour, and then having a fight as if we were gladiators. The people were good at talking to us. Their sense of humour was amazing and I would definitely recommend this for years to come. — Caleb Prentice (Year 7 Jade)
On the 1 June, the MLMC Year 7 students were given the chance of a lifetime when we were invited to an incursion about ancient life. At this event, we learned more about ancient Egypt and Roman war. In these lessons we got dressed up and had battles to learn about the history of different civilisations, I love how the two lessons had different activities and games. — Malindu Chandrasekara (Year 7 Jade)
The history incursion was a fun, yet informative, experience. We had to dress up as pharaohs, gladiators and much more. We even got to experience what a gladiator fight would have been like at the time of the Romans. It was an awesome experience. — Schemaiah Perera (Year 7 Jade)
I thought that the incursion was a really fun way to learn about what has happened in history. We got to dress up as gladiators, pharaohs, Egyptian priests and lots of other things and also have fun (and safe) gladiator fights. We even got to wear ancient Egyptian underwear! I found it really interesting to hear about the different roles from the past. — Vivienne Mackenzie (Year 7 Jade)
Here are some student reflections of medieval day from the Year 8s:
On Wednesday 6 June the Year 8s participated in a history incursion. We learnt about medieval music and dance. We were shown many instruments that were used by people in the Middle Ages for entertainment. We all participated in a medieval dance, which included us holding hands and following the leader. We then went to the old gym and were shown a variety of medieval weapons. We participated in a shield wall. Others threw tennis balls at the wall we had created with shields. My highlight was the dancing because it was different to how we are used to dancing today. — Nicola Bryce (Year 8 Orange)
The medieval day was very energetic and exciting. We got a better understanding of medieval music, instruments, armour and weapons. In the first period we got to see some of the instruments played in the medieval times and how some people would dance. In the second period we got to lock our hands on the armour and weapons. I think that the best part of the day was learning about the shield wall and how they would use it against the enemy. — Jack Halion (Year 8 Orange)
We learnt about the music and dance in the medieval times. We learnt about different instruments and how to use them. We also learnt about the armour and weapons in the medieval times. My favourite bit was when we did the shield wall because it was fun to experience what the knights might be going through. — Sabina Lantouris (Year 8 Orange)
In the music workshop, we learnt about how instruments were used for signalling, hunting and protection purposes, such as the trumpet for signalling an attack, and the cow's horn for wild hunting. Then we participated in a medieval peasant dance in which we all held hands and skipped around in patterns, going under people’s arms and around poles, while some of the students played ancient instruments like an old drum, tambourine, etc. This was one of my favourite activities. After that, we looked at a couple more medieval instruments and then moved to the old gym to look at medieval weapons and armour. I got to hold a full 10kg chain mail armour suit while other students wore it, and other armour such as the metal gloves and arm and leg plates were passed around. The last activity we participated in was another of my favourite activities, where we were shown a proper shield wall and we had a mini war. Eight people were chosen to hold shields while the rest of us threw tennis balls to try and break the wall. Overall the entire morning was eventful and we had lots of fun. — Danielle Gazzola (Year 8 Orange)
