Year 4 Visit the Mary Rose


Year 4 plunged back in time to the 16th century to explore the remains of a ship named The Mary Rose. The Mary Rose was an English warship that belonged to Henry VIII and sank in the 1500’s in a battle with a French fleet. The remains of the ship were raised and preserved in 1982 and now are on display in Portsmouth. The ship was almost 45 meters long and had four decks! 

Year 4 started their day with an engaging and immersive ‘Henry’s Heroes’ workshop. Some children dressed up as officers in fancy clothes whilst others dressed as crew members in more practical plain clothes. The children had fun handling replica artefacts and discussing their possible uses. Surprisingly, many of the objects are still used today (500 years later), such as nit combs! 

The children enjoyed a gloriously sunny lunch outside, sat next to the Victory, and watched the ships go by before it was all hands-on deck in another talk about the remains of the ship. The children were fascinated by the videos of life onboard and the artefacts displayed – in particular the skeletons. They were amazed by how much we know about the people on board from their skeletons, including whether they had been injured, had scurvy or rickets or even what jobs they did.