How can schools get involved?

Schools can now participate in guided tours of the Epworth Old Rectory.

We invite a class of up to 30 children from years 4 or 5 to come for a full day (10am to 2.30pm) to take part in three activities in groups of 10 at a time. (More can be accommodated with prior notice)

Main activities for all bookings:
1. Guided tour of the Old Rectory in question and answer style
2. Costumed experience of home schooling in Susanna’s kitchen (KS2 literacy and history unit18)
One further activity from this list can also be selected:
3. ‘Plant detectives’ in the Physic Garden (KS2 science 2b) – available from May to September
4. Shock pots and loving cups – learning their meaning and making your own (KS2 art 5b)
5. Learning about portraits and drawing a portrait of another pupil (KS2 art 3a)

Below you will find a series of Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Files which will enable you to book your school visit to the Old Rectory.

Document Name
Information Pack Cover (for notice boards)
Information Pack showing details of 5 activities
Learning Links and Poems - activities which will allow you to continue the activities back at school after your visit
'Permission to use photos' form
Risk Assessment
Booking Form
Feedback Form

Epworth Old Rectory - Working with Schools

We are offering to visit your school free of charge. Below is an outline of some examples, but others can be developed if the school has particular areas they would like to explore:

1. Assemblies –
   a. Using a portrait of Charles Wesley, volunteers would show the children elements within the portrait which indicate the sort of man he was. They would then explain that he wrote over 6000 hymns, asking the children how easy/hard they find it to write one poem. A few lines of a hymn by Charles Wesley will be read and explained to help the children appreciate his ideas and the way he worked with words. The children will be asked if they know of any of his hymns and the assembly would end with the singing of either 'Love Divine' or 'Hark the Herald Angels sing' (depending on the season)
   
   b. Using a picture of the famous fire at Epworth Old Rectory, volunteers would explain what happened in February 1709 when this wood and thatch house was burned to the ground and that the fire was probably started deliberately. All the family escaped except 5 year old John Wesley who was pulled out of an upper window just as the roof fell in. His mother Susanna declared that he was a 'brand plucked from the burning' and she vowed to take special care of him. That incident made him also believe that he had been saved for a special purpose. The volunteers will help the children to understand the influence this had on John Wesley's life.
   
   c. The children would be shown a portrait of Susanna Wesley. Using her account of her method of educating her children, the children in the assembly will be helped to think of differences between her methods and those of today. Her pattern for the day will be described, as well as her methods of disciplining her children. How would the children in the school react to her kindly strictness? Why do they think she took such care over her children's education? The differences between the usual experience for girls in the 18th century and today will be explored – showing why Susanna was unusual in taking equal care over her daughters' and her sons' early education. The assembly would end with a prayer by Susanna Wesley.
   
   
2. Classroom visits and interviews – two volunteers in costume would visit the school for one morning or afternoon and call in on several classes. They would be dressed as Susanna Wesley and John Wesley and would be in character (as far as possible) for the duration of the visit. Classes would prepare questions in advance and be ready to engage in conversation with the characters. The aim would be to introduce the children to life in the early 18th century and to the impact that these two people had on 18th century society and history. Some of the stories of the Wesleys' lives and their ongoing relevance and impact today, would emerge through these conversations.
   
   
3. Storytelling – volunteers would spend time with groups of children telling a particular story from the history of the Old Rectory and Epworth. These could include : the drainage of the Isle of Axholme and its effect on local people, the unpopularity of Samuel Wesley, the experiences of the seven Wesley sisters, Susanna Wesley's achievements despite her difficult life, the story of the Rectory fire, John Wesley's preaching from his father's grave in Epworth churchyard.

For classroom visits and storytelling, it would be beneficial to the school and volunteers from the Old Rectory if the volunteers could have a discussion in advance of the visit with the appropriate class teacher.

We would also value the opportunity of meeting members of school staff either formally or informally at the end of our visit.

Download a PDF version of these details

For more information please contact:
Claire Potter, Development Manager at Epworth Old Rectory
Telephone: 01427 872268