Year 2 trip to Windsor Castle

Year 2 had a wonderful visit to Windsor Castle last week. As their topic was Castles last term, they were all extremely excited to finally go to a ‘real live’ one! As the coach approached Windsor the children were keen to catch their first glimpse of the castle and there were great shrieks of delight when it came into view.

St George’s Chapel

We were met by Martin at the Visitors’ Centre. He showed us where to leave our picnics and where we would be eating lunch. We then set off for a visit to St George’s Chapel. We had a quick chat about showing respect and talking quietly in the church. The children were amazed by the height of the ceiling and the sheer vastness of the space. They especially loved looking at all the flags by the choir stalls and the altar. There was great excitement when someone spotted a sword and some amour hanging by a painting. They did an amazing job of trying to whisper their reactions!

We went back to the Visitors’ Centre for a workshop on knights. Our guide Martin did a fabulous job of capturing their attention and imaginations. They loved seeing the outfits worn by pages and squires and we had plenty of volunteers to model the costumes, chain mail, armour and to try out some of the weapons. They were all astounded at the size of the lance used for jousting and it took two of them to lift a practice lance!

Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House

After lunch we walked over to visit Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House. We had a bit of a wait as it was a popular attraction. The children were thrilled to see the miniature house and particularly impressed to hear that all the electrics and hot and cold water taps actually worked. The guide at the door also told us that the mini champagne bottles actually contained real champagne!

Our visit to the Dolls’ House led into a journey through the state rooms. Each one brought new cries of “Look at this!” “Wow!” and “This is the best day ever!” The gold room was a highlight as was the dining room with hundreds of coats of arms on the ceiling.

As we left the staterooms, we saw three soldiers marching past in their smart red tunics and bearskin busbies. The children watched them check on the guard near the queen’s apartments and then followed them back across the castle grounds to their guard room. There was quite a sound of small feet marching as we went back to the Visitors’ Centre to collect our things before heading home.

What did the children think?

Harry: This is the best trip ever, ever, ever.

Gabriella: I’m going to ask my mum to bring me back here again!

Oscar: Wow! Look at those swords on those guns.

A tired but happy crew arrived back at the coach, and we all felt it had been a wonderful finale to our Castles topic work. We were very proud of the children who remembered huge amounts from last term, and all behaved beautifully.