Butser Ancient Farm
Chalton Lane
Chalton
Waterlooville
Hampshire
PO8 0BG
Telephone/Fax: 023 9259 8838

Director of Education: Maureen Page

We offer a valuable educational experience to groups of all ages
- infants, juniors, secondary pupils and older students.
What we do at Butser Ancient Farm has many applications and connections
- we can address many areas of the curriculum.
Just come and talk to us about your needs!
LEARNING BY DOING

Here at the Ancient Farm we can offer a unique educational experience. It is a real, working farm, as well as an open-air research laboratory, where the ancient world of the Celts and the Romans is being explored. It provides a wonderful setting for an educational visit, allowing the pupils to experience life in the past by using as many of their senses as possible, helping them to both understand and remember the experience.

We begin the visit with an introductory talk and discussion in one of the roundhouses around the fire. This is then followed by a tour of the farm and / or some ’ hands on ’ activities. These allow the pupils to understand better what life was like in the distant past.

The tour enables pupils to see as many aspects of life on the farm as possible, including the difference between Celtic and Roman housing as we have constructs of Iron Age roundhouses and a Roman villa, with a hypocaust.

The activities consist of tasks that would have formed an important part of everyday life for many early peoples, not just Celts and Romans, but Anglo-Saxons and Vikings too.

We feel strongly that by taking part in the activities, pupils will have a better understanding of what life might have been like. Quite often children are expected to use their senses - to smell the herbs, to hear the sheep and feel their fleece and horns, etc.

We offer a constantly changing range of activities. We try to ensure that each group has taken part in a building project, to leave something lasting at the Ancient Farm that they have helped to construct (eg. wattle fencing, walls). We like pupils to have leant a new skill (e.g. spinning, Roman surveying) and we try to include an activity which enables them to take home something that they have made (e.g. pottery, chalk carving)

Teachers Planning Visit
We recommend that all teachers should come to the Farm for a planning visit, particularly if you have not
visited us before. We invite you to arrange a suitable time by ringing the office number below. We will
then be able to show you around the site, discuss the programme for your school”s visit and answer any questions that you may have. There is no charge for this pre-visit.

We offer a valuable educational experience to groups of all ages - infants, juniors, secondary pupils and older students.

To make a booking, please contact
Butser Ancient Farm
Chalton Lane, Chalton, Waterlooville, Hants PO8 0BG
Telephone/Fax: 023 9259 8838

HISTORY IN THE CURRICULUM
Visits to Butser Ancient Farm can be used to introduce and /or consolidate knowledge and understanding at the following levels.

KEY STAGE LEVELS
KS1 An Introduction to the Past
· The way of life of people in the distant past, who lived in Britain
· How the past is different to the present
· What were homes like a long time ago?

KS2 Study Unit 6
Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings
· How British society was shaped by Roman / Anglo-Saxon / Viking
settlement
· Roman conquest and occupation of Britain
· Boudicca and Caractacus and the resistance to Roman rule
· Building of roads, villas and towns
· Roman settlement in local area

Study Unit 18
· What was it like to live here in the past? (Link with Geography local
area study)

KS3 An Era or turning point in European history
· Changes from prehistory to history, from hunter-gatherer to farmer
· Impact of the written word, of Christianity
· The development of technology, building, art

What we do at Butser Ancient Farm has many applications and connections. We can address many areas of the curriculum: geography, science, mathematics, literacy, environmental studies and art. Just come and talk to us about your needs!

PLANNING YOUR VISIT
Dates
Provisional dates are accepted and kept for a week. A confirmed date takes priority. Bookings for the summer and autumn terms especially need to be made in good time.
Tell us your needs
Following your booking, if you wish to telephone to discuss your requirements for your visit, you can contact us on this number: 07903 433482. Or, if you prefer, you may arrange to visit the site.
We are very flexible in our approach.

Activities
Each group may choose four different “hands on” activities. All pupils will be able to take part in the activities chosen. Group leaders are asked to tick the preferred activities on the booking form, one resulting in something to take home and three others. Each group is encouraged to choose a building activity, as buildings are such an important part of the farm. If the weather conditions are not suitable for any of your chosen activities, others can be substituted. All activities involve some instruction and explanation.
Below is a short description of the most popular activities. If you would like more information or advice on your choices, please contact the Farm on 02392 598838.

Pottery
Everyone is given some clay and given the opportunity to make it into something to take home. (eg. Pots, models, plaques) They are put into boxes to be taken back to school for drying and possibly painting. It is helpful if groups can bring their own cardboard boxes.

Chalk Carving
It is thought that Iron Age people and Romans had “house gods” in their homes who they believed would protect their families. Pupils are given a piece of chalk and a sharpened flint to make a picture on the chalk just as people would have done more than two thousand years ago.

Jewellery
Each pupil is given a length of wire and a pair of pliers. They are shown how to fashion a piece of jewellery for them to wear.

Wattling
Pupils help to make a section of wattle fencing. This is done either individually or in small groups by weaving long rods between posts. The rods can be up to four metres long.

Daubing
Pupils help to mix daub, a mixture of mud, fibre and animal dung, and then daub a wall. This is usually part of a house that is being renovated. This activity is not always available if there are no walls in need of daubing!

Clunching
Clunch is a very strong building material. Pupils crush chalk to a powder and then add mud, straw and water to make the clunch, which they then use to build up walls for buildings.

Archaeology
Pupils can excavate with trowels in a prepared area. Their finds help them to understand what an archaeologist might find and what it might mean.

Roman Villa Tour
Groups can be given a guided tour around the Roman Villa. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions and compare the villa with the Iron Age roundhouses.

Mosaics
Pupils can make a mosaic pattern with small tiles. Unfortunately, these cannot be taken back to school.

Spinning
Pupils try spinning some of the fleece from our own sheep using a drop spindle. Any wool that they spin, can be taken home.

CHARGES FROM 1ST SEPTEMBER 2011
Full Day Visit
A full day visit will usually include an Introductory Talk with at least four activities, dependent upon the time available.

Price from September 2011 £7.20 per child + VAT
Price from September 2012 £7.50 per child + VAT

Minimum price per group for 2011– 2012 £144.00 + VAT
(Minimum price per group from September 2012 £150.00 + VAT)

Half-Day Visit
A short visit, lasting no more than two hours, comprises either a Talk with an explanatory tour of the farm
or a Talk with two activities.
Cost: £5.80 + VAT per child Minimum charge per group £116.00 + VAT

We do not charge for accompanying staff and adults.
Payment

Please arrange to pay on the day of your visit, when a receipt will be ready for you. In order to cover administration costs, it is necessary to make a surcharge of 3% on later payments.

Please make cheques payable to:
Butser Education CIC

SOME HANDY HINTS

Coaches
Please remember we are in the heart of the countryside and you would be wise to inform the coach company that after a day at the Ancient Farm children will almost certainly have muddy boots and clothing.

Parking
There is ample room for several coaches to park and manoeuvre.

Clothing
Ask parents to prepare the children well for the worst of the British weather: old clothes, old shoes or Wellington boots, warm waterproof clothing for cold days and bags to put muddy boots in.

Toilets
Two each for males and females. One with disabled access. Cold running water for washing.

Wet Weather
If the weather is bad we try to continue activities inside the houses.

Lunch
Bring sandwiches and picnic on the farm or in the houses. Please bring a bin bag to take your rubbish away in.

Shop
Our small souvenir shop is designed with children very much in mind and most of the items for sale are educational and affordable. There are many items priced at 20p, 30p, 50p, £1 and £1.50. We can organise your visit to the shop and can pack and label the children’s shopping. This is then put on the coach to avoid the children loosing items before they leave the site.

Teaching Resources
Useful information packs and brochures are available in the shop also posters, postcards, colouring books and other items that can be used in the classroom.