Year 2 at St. Johns-on-the-Hill spent an eventful day learning more about Isambard Kingdom Brunel on a visit to the SS Great Britain. The class has been researching travel and transport, specifically different modes of motion.
The students have taken great interest in the successes of Bristol born Brunel, particularly in the Great Western Railway, SS Great Britain and the Clifton Suspension bridge. This topic culminated in a hands-on classroom based activity at SS Great Britain where students were able to use authentic antique tools to build a replica hull piece of the ship just as they did 172 years ago. They were then invited to dress in traditional clothes and create a re-enactment of the launch of SS Great Britain just as it was on the 19th July 1843.
The sights, sounds and smells of this famous ship really brought travelling in that era to life for the students who left with so much understanding of ship building and travelling by sea. They now cheerfully reply to a call of “all hands on deck” with a naval salute of “aye, aye captain!” in unison with enthusiasm!