GCSE & A Level - Ages 16 to 18

Teaching Sessions: Key Stage 3 and 4

Understanding Aquae Sulis – Bathing & Belief in a Roman Town - KS3/4 (1 hour)

This popular session explores the variety of Latin inscriptions from the tombstones and altars found in Aquae Sulis. Students will collaborate and share ideas as they decipher more about the lives of the people behind the language. The session also includes the opportunity to handle Roman artefacts associated with the layout and function of the bathhouse and the settlement of Aquae Sulis as a whole.

Bathing & Beauty - KS3/4+ (1 hour)

This session is perfect for students who have little prior knowledge of the Roman world. Explore how the baths were used in Roman times, what treatments were available, and how Roman bathing compare to modern spas. Students will have the chance to handle original artefacts and replica objects – can they identify which is which? – and use them to reconstruct the Roman bathing routine. There is also the opportunity to smell like a Roman and create a something to take home.

Perfect for: students without a history background; end of term trips or “try something new” weeks; International/ EAL schools; student of health and beauty.

Teaching sessions: Key stage 4 and 5

Pre-visit

On-site

There will be a presentation introducing the Roman Baths as a business, looking at its business and service aims. Segmentation will be explored (Approximately 30 minutes). With this knowledge students will visit the museum with a group task to study how the visitors interact with it (Approximately 1 hour not including breaktime). Back at the classroom we will use the results of this practical activity to see if the theory matches the reality (Approximately 30 minutes).

Post-visit

2,000 Years of Medicine in Bath - KS4/5 (1 hour)

This session examines the use of Bath’s famous spa waters as the basis for healing practices in the city, from the discovery of the hot spring in prehistoric times up to its use in modern spa treatments. Discover the process of using the bathhouse in Roman times – were the Romans really as clean as we think? – and engage with original artefacts from the museum’s collection. Come face to face with one of the ancient city’s inhabitants and use archaeological thought to discover more about their life. This session will feature in depth discussion about (including images) human remains.

Perfect for: schools discovering their local history; students of health, medicine and the sciences; those looking for a different take on Bath’s history.

GCSE Local Study CD Resource Pack

The presentations on the CD are maps, images and text sources. They are intended to be used primarily by GCSE students preparing for (local) historical enquiry-based controlled assessments about the Roman Baths and Bath. Please email us for a copy.

How to unlock the history around us with OCR

One of the unique features of the OCR SHP History Specification is the ability for you to be relatively free to make an individual choice for the site you study. Choose the city of Bath as your case study. Find out more on the OCR website.

Resources for teachers

Name	Details
Decoding Roman Religious Inscriptions - How To... guide	PDF, 450 KB	Download
Decoding Roman tombstones - How To... guide	PDF, 473 KB	Download
Roman Tombstones - activity sheet	PDF, 553 KB	Download
Religious Inscriptions - activity sheet	PDF, 649 KB	Download
Translation of inscriptions at Aquae Sulis	PDF, 133 KB	Download
Curse tablets	PPTX, 422 KB	Download

Medicine Through Time Trail

This trail provides an ideal starting-point for all of the different Medicine Through Time GCSE syllabi. Many of the ideas about medicine that the Romans developed, such as Germ Theory and Public Health, have carried through to the present-day.

Name	Details
Medicine Through Time Trail	DOCX, 339 KB	Download
Crib sheet	DOCX, 15 KB	Download

History Around Us Trail

The Roman Baths are the perfect choice for the OCR GCSE History B 'History Around Us' unit. The site is a permissable option for all schools as it is ancient and therefore does not overlap with any of the other units. This trail is designed to highlight not only how the Romans used this site, but also the attitudes of later periods.