Primary Schools Newsletter:
March 2025

$A bee enjoying the bright purple crocus flowers outside at Pontefract Castle.$

Blossoms are blooming and birdsong is in the air: the new season must finally have arrived!

As the Spring term draws to a close, we are already looking ahead to the Summer term.

Explore this newsletter to see how liquorice and catapults might fit into your provision!

Summer term STEM special

Our STEM special workshop this summer term is Catapults and Cannons.

This KS1 and KS2 workshop can be booked for delivery in May - don't miss out! The maximum number of pupils per workshop is 35.

In this interactive STEM session, pupils will look at the evolution of siege engines used to attack castles in the past, from medieval trebuchets to English Civil War cannons.

Pupils will get to see and touch real cannon balls found by archaeologists at Pontefract Castle and work in cooperative groups to plan, design and create model catapults.

Workshop includes:

Working in groups to solve problems
Working collaboratively to achieve outcomes
Handing museum objects
Creating, testing and measuring mechanisms inspired by history

Venue: Pontefract Castle

Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes

Cost: £75

$Black stamped circular Pontefract Cakes laid on top of one another.$

Sweet Success

Each July Pontefract holds a Liquorice Festival, but why is liquorice so important to the town?

Book the KS1 and KS2 Sweet Success workshop for delivery at Pontefract Castle or in school to discover the reason why, learning about the historical roots of this amazing plant.

Discover how a Pontefract chemist called George Dunhill first used the plant to flavour sweets, inventing the now famous Pontefract Cake!

Pupils will look at old Pontefract Cake tins before designing their own persuasive packaging.

Workshop includes:

Discovering the role of liquorice in Pontefract’s history
Considering how words and images can be persuasive
Creating designs for persuasive packaging
Handling old sweet tins from the museums collection

Venue: Pontefract Castle or in school

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cost: £75 at Pontefract Castle or £125 in school

A child in the Front Room at Wakefield Museum with one of our Learning Officers in character as Mrs Dixon pointing to her washing line filled with old-fashioned drawers!

Get involved in our planning for 2025/26

We are starting to review our programming for schools for the next academic year and would like to hear from you:

What workshops have you enjoyed this year and why?
What do you want to see more or less of?
How can we make our programming and sites more accessible to you and your pupils?

If you would like to help shape the next Primary School Programme, we would love to get you involved.

We can come into school, telephone or arrange an online call via Teams for you to share your feedback. Or you can just drop us an email at museumslearning@wakefield.gov.uk with your thoughts. We really value your time!

Workshop and self-led bookings 2024/25

Bookings for the current academic year are still being taken for Summer 1 and Summer 2. However, spaces are booking up quickly, so please contact us as soon as possible if you would like to book a workshop with us before the end of this school year.

You can visit us at one of our sites, or we can come to your class.

Self-led Visits:

You are welcome to visit us for a self-led visit at any of our sites, but you must book with us in advance to ensure that you can be accommodated on your chosen date.

Download our Primary Programme 2024-25 in PDF

Download our Accessible Primary Programme 2025-25 as a Word Doc

Loan Boxes

Bring the past to life and borrow real museum objects for your classroom!

Our loan boxes have been designed to complement and support classroom learning by providing a mix of museum objects and useful support resources.

Our flight case sized Loan Boxes will contain 5 or more objects chosen to:

assist with pupils' enquiry and reasoning skills
prompt questioning and thinking
invite investigation and exploration of a topic or theme
stimulate cross-curricular ideas for expansion activities

We have a wide variety of boxes available on half termly loans, including Life in Lagentium, Toys and Materials, A Soldier’s Life and more.

Download our Loan Box Programme 2024-25 in PDF

Download our Accessible Loan Box Programme 2024-25 as a Word Doc

$Ilbert the Dragon and Dave the Knight outside on the bailey at Pontefract Castle.$

Family fun for April half-term

Did you know we also deliver family workshops during the school holidays?

Activities are free or low-cost at all of our sites!

Here's a taste of what's coming up:

Colour Chemistry from Nature's Rainbow at Pontefract Castle (7 April)
Spring Things at Castleford Museum (7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17 April)
Marvellous Masks at Pontefract Museum (9 and 16 April)
Paper Making at Pontefract Castle (10 April)
Squash and Shape at Wakefield Museum (10 April)
Play with Clay at Wakefield Museum (11 April)
Dragon Egg Week at Pontefract Castle (12 to 21 April)
Plaster Plaques at Wakefield Museum (16 April)

We can also send copies of our quarterly What's On for Families guides to your school! Drop us an email to arrange.

Browse all upcoming events

Ready to book? Got a question?

If you would like to book anything mentioned here, or just have a question, you can get in touch with us via email museumslearning@wakefield.gov.uk or call on 01924 302700.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Primary Schools Newsletter: March 2025