Year 6 visited Pendennis Castle in Falmouth where they investigated how the fortification has developed over time in the face of ever-changing technology. Cornish Heritage kindly contributed to over half the cost of transportation which meant every child could start their new topic entitled ‘Courage and Conflict’ by visiting a site that saw huge changes in each conflict it was involved in.
At the castle, the children experienced the confines of life in the Tudor gun tower, the realities of training in the WW1 barracks and the constant threat from submarines and airborne bombers from WW2.
The children explored aboveground and underground and realised how important architecture is to fortification construction. The key point that the children learnt was about how technology led to changes in the design of the castle. They noticed that materials and the sophistication of the weapons changed as war became more industrialised.
The children took time to reflect on the immense loss of life from war and how it affected ordinary people which links strongly to British Values and our future learning about the significance of poppies. The children will also be learning about local soldiers from Indian Queens and Fraddon who trained at Pendennis Castle but did not return to their families at the end of WW1. To conclude, the visit has been an outstanding learning resource which was only made possible thanks to Cornish Heritage.
