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Welcome to the Education Department at Wells Cathedral!
Your visit to the Cathedral will be a special experience
for the students and remembered long after the topic
is over!
We specialise in tailoring every visit, so please
ring to agree the most suitable date and programme
for your party.
The Department is led by a teacher, and the majority
of Education Guides and Assistants are from teaching
backgrounds.
Various visit options are possible:
Visit only
During the summer, this may be the only option available
if all guides are already booked.
Students should remain in small groups supervised
by an adult.
Guided Tour
A tour with our trained guides of approximately an
hour. This can be a general tour, or focus on a particular
aspect, for example, symbolism, vestments, altar frontals.
A Programmed Day
Your day will begin with a welcome in the Nave. Most
full day programmes have three sessions – a
tour; a themed activity working in groups to produce
items for school; a craft activity relating to their
visit creating a souvenir to take home.
At the end of the morning session pupils have the
opportunity to say a prayer, either at the clock (where
prayers are said every hour April-October) or delivered
from the pulpit over the cathedral PA system.
Writing the prayers can be a literacy project prior
to the visit. A class prayer can be formed using lines
from each child’s text.
‘Speaking with confidence in a range of contexts,
adapting their speech for a range of purposes and
audiences’ is, of course, a key aspect of the
English National Curriculum.
Summer picnics on Cathedral Green or in the more private
Camery Garden are popular. In wet weather the new Friends Building for Education and Music provides a dediated room for lunch and craft activities. Security doors, extra toilets, and storage for bags and coats contribute to a safe relaxed visit. The building is directly within the Cathedral grounds, off the East Cloister and looking over the Camery Garden.
The day closes with a time of reflection. This may be a form of Circle
Time in the Chapter House, or the class may end the
day with favourite song, and then proudly state that
they have sung in Wells Cathedral Quire!
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