A number of Year 7 and 8 students enjoyed a visit to St Fagans on Wednesday the 3rd of July.

Year 7 were involved in a Cynefin workshop. There, pupils were discussing "What is Wales?" and learning the meaning behind the word "Cynefin" which means home or the sense of belonging. Pupils were shown various items from the gallery and pupils had to guess what they were. All items were previously a part of Welsh history and culture. Pupils learnt why they were important.

Year 7 then went into the gallery "Wales is..." "Yr Oriel Cymru yw..." Pupils were given statements about Welsh history and in their groups looked for evidence of whether their statements were true or false based on information in the galleries. The pupils enjoyed reading about Welsh culture and events that had happened in Wales. Pupils found the story of Capel Celyn and the Aberfan disaster the most interesting.

Whilst our Year 8 students attended a guided tour of the Castle where they learnt about the Vans from Caerphilly and the Real Windsors of London. Pupils found the links to Caerphilly and the real Windsors very interesting. The Year 8 students were set a challenge to find as many Welsh words as they could on their walk around St Fagans. Billie Wood and Lucy Meikle won the challenge after finding 65 words/phrases, da iawn both!            

Both groups experienced a tour of the terraced houses and the old shops and were educated about how they would have been schooled in the 1800’s and the effects of the ‘Welsh Not’ on the Welsh language. They also learnt about having their hands tied if they used their left hand to write, as during that time it was thought that the devil was on your left shoulder so children were forced to use their right hand when writing, even if they were left-handed! A very informative and fun day!