Historic Workshops Reviews 501

It was a very interactive and hands‑on workshop. The children were excited to meet Leaf the Viking, and they enjoyed the activities throughout the entire day. They went into “battle,” became archaeologists, and played traditional Viking board games. They also took part in discussions at the Thing, where they learned about the different groups within a Viking village and how decisions were made in the community.

Gareth delivered an outstanding day of historical workshops. He was incredibly well prepared and organised from start to finish, which helped the whole day run smoothly. His extensive knowledge of World War II really shone through, and he presented everything in a way that was engaging, accessible, and exciting for the children.
The pupils absolutely loved taking part in the different workshops throughout the day—each activity was hands‑on, thoughtfully planned, and brought the history to life in a memorable way. I honestly cannot fault the experience at all. It was informative, immersive, and thoroughly enjoyable for everyone involved.
I would highly recommend Gareth and the Historic Workshop to any school looking for a high‑quality historical experience.

My year 4 class had the best time with Rob today. He was so knowledgable and really engaging, he’s clearly very passionate about history and I will definitely be recommending my school book him again. Thank you so much!

Great experience for the children. Gareth is great and makes the learning fun, he has a lovely way with the children.

Second year running Year 4 have had an Anglo-Saxon workshop to kick start our History topic on Raiders and Settlers, and once again the children absolutely loved it. David was brilliant, and really hooked the children with his story-telling. So many hands on opportunities left the children wanting more. I will be booking again for next year!

We have been using Historic Workshops for years at our setting and have taken part in Viking, WW2, Ancient Greece and Roman experience days.

We recently had the pleasure of Rob coming in to deliver a Viking experience day for our Y5 children and, as usual, the day was a huge success.

All communication leading up to the event was timely and organised, Katy emailed us everything we needed including risk assessments to include for our records. Katy also ensures the activities fit in with the times of our day, which makes the day so much easier to organise for us.

On the day, Rob provided everything we needed and briefed us expertly on how to deliver the teacher led elements of the day. I had never delivered the Viking session before so this was very useful and the activities went off without a hitch. Rob asked for a brief of the children and took keen interest in what engaged them and how to approach the day, due to this attention to detail, the children loved every minute of the day and I’m sure will remember it in years to come! It’s clear that your colleagues not only know everything there is to know about history, but know how to engage children in a school based setting too.

Thank you to Historic Workshops and to Rob for another fantastic day! We will of course be booking again for next year.

Thank you!

Emily James
Sherdley Primary School

We had Rob deliver a Roman workshop. Throughout the sessions he was very engaging and brought the Romans to life. The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in role play to re-enact a famous battle. The resources he came prepared with supported the children's understanding of life as a Roman. We would highly recommend this workshop from Rob and the children and staff cannot wait for him to return!

We had a fantastic Anglo-Saxon Day in Year 4! The children fully immersed themselves in the world of the Anglo-Saxons, taking part in exciting battle formations, trying their hand at archaeological digging, and enjoying traditional board games. They also listened to a detailed account of the Battle of Hastings, bringing this significant historical event to life. We held our own Witan, where pupils discussed and debated important decisions just as Anglo-Saxon leaders once did. It was a fun, engaging day filled with hands-on learning!

It was absolutely brilliant, the overall day was fantastic for the children and adults and the actor was wonderful!

The WW2 workshop delivered by Gareth was extremely well received by both pupils and staff. Gareth kept the sessions interesting and engaging throughout, and his delivery ensured that pupils were fully immersed in the learning.

The activities provided for teachers to lead were very easy to follow, with all resources and slides prepared in advance. This level of organisation is incredibly helpful for teachers and allowed everything to run smoothly.

We were particularly impressed by the range of activities included. They were not the typical tasks usually completed when learning about this topic, which made the workshop feel fresh and exciting. The ARP‑themed activities and the first aid stretcher challenge were definite highlights—pupils especially loved these hands‑on experiences and spoke about them afterwards with great enthusiasm.

Teachers also felt that the workshop was exceptionally well planned and timetabled.
The structure allowed enough time between activities for pupils to complete a WW2 timeline, which helped them stay engaged and continually refer back to their learning.

Overall, this was an excellent workshop: well organised, thoughtfully structured, and brilliantly led by Gareth. We would happily recommend it and look forward to working with him again in the future.

The leader was very engaging and captured the children's attention from the start. Lots of great artefacts and hands on practical experiences for the children. The particular favourites were the archery and weapons making.

We had a fantastic experience with our Roman visitor. The introduction was engaging and informative, the costumes realistic (helping bring the topic to life), the instructor, alias Tiberius, knowledgable and the child enjoyed it. The battle reenactment was a particularhit, and the board games were pitched so the whole class could participate. Thank you!

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed their Stone Age Workshop. They were so excited for the whole day! Every child came away with new knowledge and have already recommended it to the Year 2's for next year!

The workshop was brilliant and the member of staff was very knowledgable. The activities the children completed really linked in well with their Stone age topic and they had lots of fun aswell.

We found the experience very engaging, well organised and resourced. The portions of the day which were required to be teacher led were easy to understand and to deliver. The experience leader was friendly, professional and demonstrated extensive subject knowledge. She was also a marvellous story teller.

The whole day was carefully planned around the school timings and availability of the hall for when larger space was needed. Gareth fully engaged the children when he was delivering the sessions to them, making sure they were listening and on task. Sessions that teachers delivered were well-resourced and clearly explained beforehand. The day ran incredibly smoothly and was thoroughly enjoyable as well as incredibly informative.

Mally, who ran our workshop was fantastic with the children. She was engaging and prepared with very hands on, interactive activities that really supported students understanding of Ancient Greece. I would highly recommend her to other schools!

Jess was brilliant. All children were completely enthralled for the entire day. They absolutely loved the battle formations, and there was a good variety of activities. Jess was lovely and friendly, and just made the whole day a really positive experience.

We had a fantastic day at the Anglo-Saxon Viking workshop run by Rob! He was very professional, engaging, and great with the children. The kids absolutely loved it, and we learned so much. I would highly recommend this workshop and will definitely be booking again!

A truly amazing day! Children loved the range of activities and hearing about the history from our incredible workshop lead! He was highly recommended and I would definitely recommend - he was very enthusiastic and knowledgable - just what our Year 6s needed. Will definitely be repeating again next year!