To help families and teachers leading lessons at home during this challenging time, the Cathedral’s Schools and Family Learning Department has been busy creating a whole series of cross-curricular educational activities across all key stages for children to enjoy.
Youngsters can find out more about Christianity and other World Faiths, and they can also step back through the history of Norwich Cathedral. They can learn about the Cathedral’s founder, Bishop Herbert de Losinga, look at how the 900-year-old Cathedral was built, and find out what life was like as a Benedictine monk.
The latest addition is a new story called Holy Smoke, the day the tower fell! which takes children from the present day back to 1272 when the Great Fire of the Cathedral Priory took place, and the story also includes a cameo role from Budge the Norwich Cathedral cat!
There are also educational resources putting a special spotlight on nursing heroines Edith Cavell – who is buried at Norwich Cathedral – and Florence Nightingale as well as some science, poetry and art-inspired activities.
The activities are aimed at a range of different ages and can all be downloaded from the Cathedral website. A number of the activities also have short films to accompany them on the new Norwich Cathedral Schools and Families YouTube Channel.
Janet Marshall, the Cathedral’s Head of Schools and Family Learning, said:
“We love having schoolchildren visit Norwich Cathedral and we cannot wait to welcome back school groups to the Cathedral when it is safe and sensible to do so.
“In the meantime, we hope all these activities will be a big help to families and teachers during these challenging times and that children will have a great time learning about Christianity and other World Faiths, the history of Norwich Cathedral and many other topics.
“We will be updating our resources regularly so please keep checking back to see our latest activities!”
For more information, visit cathedral.org.uk and follow @CathedralEdu and @Nrw_Cathedral on Twitter.