This term the Chameleon class have been studying city life and we decided to look at Worcester as it is our closest city. We started our topic by thinking about the contrasts of life in Worcester compared to our village life in Cropthorne and Charlton. At the beginning all of us were very clear in our thoughts that we much preferred living in the countryside rather than in a city – would we change our minds after our work on Worcester?

First of all we started our topic by learning about the history of Worcester with an amazingly interesting visit to the Commandery Centre. Here we learnt all about the Civil War and we even tried on armoury before we practised our battle formations. During quite a long walk through Worcester city centre we were surprised by how many historical features are around you than you don’t normally notice because you are looking at the shops and hoping for a drink and snack break! We were fascinated by some of the statutes on the building at the Guildhall and we could really imagine the troops trying to find Charles II as we stood opposite the building where he had been hidden. We were also really surprised by some of the beautiful green areas in Worcester and we started to realise there was a lot more to Worcester than Marks and Spencer!

On our second trip to Worcester we conducted surveys, which we had planned at school, to gather data about what people were doing in Worcester. We were very interested in finding out whether the crime rate was higher in Worcester as we expected it to be, one of the reasons we didn’t want to live there! The people we spoke to were fantastic and they kept telling us how polite we were so Mrs Hunt was feeling very proud! After gathering the data we visited the university to create databases and different graphs using their computers. We had a lovely lunch by the river, watching the swans and the rowers, much more peaceful than we imagined.

Our final visit to Worcester involved a day of Religious Studies at the Cathedral. It must be amazing to have such a peaceful and interesting place to visit if you live in Worcester.  We imagined we were pilgrims for the day, on a special pilgrimage to Worcester Cathedral. We started the day with crafts, making gargoyles, clay mazes, shell pictures and numerical sketches. After this we had a tour of the Cathedral, hearing all the different stories about the special areas and historical events. There was a special prayer room to remember people who have or are still fighting in wars. We finished the day learning about creative prayer, how we can pray in different ways and how prayer can be beneficial to us. The day finished with all the schools joining together in a special song in the Cathedral and we were handed a shell to remember our pilgrimage.

We have been very lucky to see the many different things that are in Worcester and it has really surprised us, although most of us still love our villages! We will visit Worcester again during the summer holidays to share our findings with our families.

Chameleons