Our Year 8s had a fabulous time at Smithills Hall yesterday as part of their History and Life Skills work, despite Storm Doris trying her best to make the drive to Bolton as difficult as possible!

The children were fascinated by the 800 year old historic hall with its medieval Great Hall and Tudor and Victorian wings and their tour guide, Stephen, really brought everything to life for them..

Mr Hanif was very impressed with how well the children were able to recall what they had learnt about Medieval, Tudor and Victorian times. These are all topics that Year 8 have been looking at over the last 18 months in their History lessons and it was heartening to see how much they must have been paying attention in class..

In Life Skills this term the children have been identifying and learning about different types of houses and rooms. They were surprised to see how differently houses used to be constructed and they were amazed at the sheer scale and splendour of the hall..

The servants’ quarters proved to be a real eye opener – the children couldn’t imagine how people used to live without a bathroom or a shower and they were very shocked to learn that there was no electricity……..and not an Xbox in sight!

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and Mr Hanif, Mrs Hickman and Miss Bradley were delighted with the pupils’ exemplary behaviour. They would like to thank Stephen and the rest of the fabulous team at Smithills Hall who made them all so welcome throughout their trip – it may have been New Bridge’s first visit but it will definitely not be our last! Plans are already being made to go back with another class very soon…..

If you would like to explore Smithills Hall for yourself, you can find out more and plan your visit on their website here – entry is free and we can promise you a fascinating journey back in time with wonderful staff!

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