Patrick (dressed as a Roman) brought a great deal of resources and an impressive amount of knowledge of Roman Britain into school and led the children through a day that involved making lots of Roman items, whilst stopping regularly to find out more about that period, practising shield formations, putting on Roman plays then enjoying a Roman feast.

The Roman crafts were varied and involved lots of different skills a provided an insight into the lives of people at that time in Britain. The children were able to take all of the items home. Some of the children told me what the activities were, and what they had learned. The activities  included making:

• a small mosaic out of tesserae (tiles). Mosaics could be lots of different designs and would decorate your villa. This would show that you were wealthy.
• a leather (ish) pouch, called a Bulla. They were worn by children until they became adults or got married and had special protective items inside.
• a wax tablet. if you were lucky enough to go to school you would write on them, and the wax could be heated and melted so you could start again.
• a signalacum. This is  piece of metal that was carried around to identify you as a soldier in the army and it would say something like Legio IX. Rich people had similar necklaces that could have any design – they were made of bronze or copper.
• perfume. Berries, herbs and spices were crushed then olive oil was added to make a perfume that could be used  to put on to cleanse them and make them smell nice. This was a favourite item of many of the children and one told me that she had given some to her sister and some to her mum.
• a board game, called Rota. After they had made the game, the children played it. You had to get three stones in a row to win.

The children also enjoyed retelling how they had enjoyed finding answers to questions such as “what happened to the ninth legion?”, and “did Boudicca have spies in the Roman Camps?”, and sharing their fascination with  what they had learnt about Roman hygiene and toileting, (including all the unpleasant details), how they had loved the shield practise, including making the Tortoise formation and how they had enjoyed performing plays, like the Romans would have done in their theatres, as well as having a feast to end the day.