Films help Peterborough Cathedral keep learning accessible in schools

Members of the learning and engagement team have developed the roadshows as one of three ways for schools to access the cathedral’s teaching programme. The first method is to encourage children and their teachers back into the building itself. The roadshows form the second element and cathedral-produced short videos are also made to enhance classroom teaching.

It’s not only covid restrictions, but also long distances and transport costs that are factors in the move by the cto provide greater educational outreach.

“As part of our programme we have four exciting topics that we can teach children – all of them historically fascinating for the primary school age group,” commented the cathedral’s head of learning and engagement, Alex Carton. “We’ve made a series of short videos featuring wonderful characters associated with the cathedral and the monasteries before that,” she added.

It’s the first time that such a programme of roadshow activities has been developed by the cathedral, where a member of the team goes into a school and, typically, delivers a specially-tailored session to three classes of children per day. Shorter virtual sessions over online platforms such as Zoom and Teams are also available.

In addition there is a topic entitled ‘Your Mother Church’ that has been designed to meet the particular needs of church schools located within the Diocese of Peterborough. Another topic is entitled ‘Local History’ and this is designed schools situated within the city of Peterborough itself.

“When we record the short videos we are aiming to bring the characters of the cathedral back to life,” said Alex. “We’ve had fun dressing up in costume to portray the likes of the personal maid of Spain’s Queen of England, Katherine of Aragon, who’s buried in the building, and the World War I nursing heroine Edith Cavell. We hope this will help the children to understand both the historical and the present-day relevance of these people.”

Other characters the team has portrayed on film include the cathedral’s 16th century gravedigger Old Scarlett who lived to be 98 years-old and the first monastery’s founder King Paeda.

A number of schools have already booked for sessions between now and the end of the academic year in mid-July.

Topic details can be found at: www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/home/learning/cathedral-roadshow.aspx and schools can contact the cathedral’s learning and engagement team via the email address: schoolvisits@peterborough- cathedral.org.uk.