For our last day in York, we split into two groups and visited the Jorvik and Digg Museums.

Jorvik is a Viking Centre and stands on the site where archaeologists revealed the houses, workshops and backyards of the Viking age city of Jorvik as it stood nearly 1000 years ago . We went on a ride around the museum which showed how the Vikings would have lived. We also looked at a collection of Viking artefacts and children were fascinated by some fossilised poo! Not the nicest of things but one of the most talked about items in the museum!

We also visited Dig. This is linked with the Jorvik centre and aims to show children the fun side of archaeology. They get the chance to “dig” up some artefacts and then take part in a workshop where they get to hold items from actual archaeological digs including pottery, bones and antlers while learning what the artefacts tell us about the lives of people who used them .

The children really enjoyed these interactive experiences and it was a fun way to spend the morning .

Then after one final walk down the river bank and a bit of lunch, we boarded the coach and headed back to Newport with a singalong to “The Greatest Showman” to top it all off !

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast with as much choice as the best all-inclusive hotel, children got ready for another busy day in York.

We visited York Minster where we were amazed by the beautiful stained glass windows and took part in a workshop . After this we headed to Clifford’s Tower ( more commonly known by Moorfield children as Miss Cliff’s tower) and caught the sightseeing bus for an open top tour of the city.

After a walk down the historic Shambles, we visited the York Chocolate Story where children learned the history of the Rowntree family and chocolate making in York. After some fascinating questions to the workshop leader and a few Quality Street and chocolate samples, we headed to the chocolate factory where we tried chocolate at different stages of history and production which didn’t always taste like the chocolate we now know and love! ( look at the faces on some of the photos !) Then we saw how individual chocolates were made and tasted a lovely lemon drizzle sample before making our own lollipops.

We hoped to walk around the city walls on the way back, but unfortunately they were closed as they were deemed too slippy.

After the walk back to the hostel and sausage and mash for tea, the children saw how their bread had turned out and were able to sample it.

A few team games of Scattegories followed before bedtime after a very full day.

We spent the afternoon in the National Railway Museum where the children had free time to look at all the trains and took part in two workshops . After the workshops, children were asked to go around the newer part of the museum and find some interesting facts to share with the group.

When we got back to the youth hostel , children were excited to find out which dorms they were in before we ate dinner. The evening activity was bread making.

After a good journey up to York from Newport, we arrived in York and took our first walk along the river bank . It was a lovely walk as you will see from the photographs.

On Wednesday 5th February 2020 we took our Year 5 children on a residential trip to York for 3 nights . It was a very full itinerary and the children learned about the history of the city. We stayed in a youth hostel and each day walked along the river bank into the city . Some of the children had fitbits and we totalled 16500 steps each day ! The weather was very kind to us and we enjoyed being out in the fresh air on our travels . The children had a great time and learned to be more independent away from home. They unpacked and packed again by themselves, were responsible for the tidiness of the dorms, their cleanliness , choosing their own food and managing their own money . We have shared a few highlights of the trip on our blog and look forward to seeing parents at our Year 5 Assembly on Friday 14th February at 2.40pm.