Key Stage 3 and 4
Understanding Aquae Sulis – Bathing & Belief in a Roman Town (1 hour)
Updated for 2021! 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.
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Key Stage 4 and 5
Branding the Roman Baths – KS4/5
This session is designed for those wishing to study how the Roman Baths operates. There are pre-visit, on-site and optional school based follow-up activities.
Pre-visit
You will receive a link to a video (approximately 10 minutes), with interviews with Roman Baths museum managers and staff, giving students a taste of the Roman Baths and how they run, as part of the preparation for your 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
Back at school the students will have the opportunity to use the information they have collected to create a marketing campaign targeted at one of the audience groups they have studied on their visit.
Bathing & Beauty – KS4/5 (1 hour)
This session looks at the relationship between the Roman Baths and the beauty industry of 2000 years ago as well as its links to today. The Roman bathing process is examined in detail with the study of the bath house and how it relates to modern spas and saunas. It looks at treatments both strange and familiar and shows the process of a ‘Roman makeover’ using evidence from the museum collection. To further their understanding, students will handle both original Roman artefacts and appropriate replicas.
Resources for teachers
- Decoding Roman Religious Inscriptions - How To... guide - pdf
- Decoding Roman Tombstones - How To... guide - pdf
- Roman Tombstones - activity sheet
- Religious Inscriptions - activity sheet
- Translation of inscriptions at Aquae Sulis
- Curse tablets - powerpoint
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.
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. Download the Medicine Through Time Trail here. Teachers can also download a crib sheet.
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. Download the History Around Us Trail here. Teachers can also download a crib sheet.
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.
Work experience placements are offered from age 16 years. All placements are unpaid and are subject to availability and an interview. We welcome teachers’ visits and can accommodate risk assessments as required. Please email us for information.
