On Wednesday 14th May 2025, Year 1 visited Portchester Castle as part of our History learning on Kings, Queens and Castles. We were very excited to visit a real life castle and look out for the different castle features, such as the keep, battlements, moat, drawbridge, portcullis, and bailey. Despite some of the castle being in ruins, the children were still able to imagine where some of the features would have been, for example, the drawbridge, and to imagine what life in the castle would once have been like!

The noise level on the coach erupted with pure excitement when we first arrived and the children caught their first glimpse of the castle. We had the most wonderful time exploring the castle and its grounds, including climbing the many stairs to reach the different levels of the keep. Some of the children even tried out a section of the spiral staircase, which was steep and narrow! The castle museum was really interesting and contained artefacts from an archaeological dig on site, such as a skull, jawbone, a cannonball and even a hairbrush! 

The children also took part in a workshop, run by members of English Heritage. They told us interesting facts about the history of Portchester Castle, including information about the Kings who once lived and ruled there! Some of the children were given the opportunity to dress up as kings, guards and servants, as well hold a long bow and a piece of chain mail! The children were so enthusiastic during their workshops, and impressed with their knowledge of castles.

To end the day, we walked around the outside of the castle walls to the beach. We had a fruity snack and the chance to throw some stones into the sea. It was a fantastic end to a fun and informative day!