We offer quality learning experiences for children.
We offer quality learning experiences for children.
We were thrilled to be invited to visit St Michael’s Mount for a bespoke tour for our families and children. Kerry, the Island Education Officer, planned a thoroughly engaging and exciting morning for us.
To start with we walked across the causeway together.
Next we enjoyed our snack on the bowling green, in the beautiful spring sunshine.
After this we walked to the Learning Hub, this was our base for the trip. Kerry showed the children the map of the island and talked about what we would explore together.
Kerry then offered for families to join her for a tour of the village, or they could go and explore themselves, dipping back in to the Learning Hub anytime if needed.
On our tour Kerry took us to the boat yard where we could see the ferryboats that the boatmen use to transport visitors and islands to and from the mainland, we also stood beside the ENORMOUS anphibious vehicle ‘The St Michael’! We saw the Restaraunt, The Old Dairy and the Island Houses, we also saw where the tram runs and the children were really lucky to get to see the tram running! The tram carries heavy supplies from the village up to the family who live in the castle. She talked to the children about what it’s like to live on the island, sharing stories about the people and families who live there. Including how they get to nursery and school! When we got back to the harbour, Kerry pointed out the Royal footprints from Royal visitors to the island over the years.
The tour ended in the Barge House, where there was an incredible 3d copper sculpture of the island on a table top. You are encouraged to touch the sculpture as it’s been designed to be really tactile. We were able to find parts of the island on the sculpture that we had visited together! The sculpture was created by local artist Tom Leaper who also created the Newlyn Fishmerman Memorial, as well as many more. Some of the children were also really taken by the video that plays in the Barge House showing island life.
Families were then invited to follow a letter trail treasure hunt that took them back around the village finding letters to spell out a special word – which was CORMORON! The mythological island Giant!
After the tour had finished we all joined together again in the Learning Hub where Kerry told us the story of the Giants of St Michael’s Mount and kindly provided warming hot chocolates for all the children. It’s a lovely experience to listen to a spoken story rather than listening to a book being read.
After the storytime, Kerry surprised the children by opening a treasure chest to reveal a selection of heart shaped pebbles. There was one each for the children to choose and to take home with them to remember their special trip to the mount. On the walk back to the mainland, the children were talking about the ‘giant’s heart’ on the island and their very own giants heart! As the tide was still quite far out, the children were able to walk across the rock pools and beach to get back to the mainland, what a memorable adventure we had!
We would like to say an ENORMOUS thank you to Kerry for inviting the children and their families to visit the island and for preparing such as fantastic tour for them. It was ‘pitched’ just right for the children’s age and their engagement was testament to this. The children had lots of exciting tales to share when they got back to nursery.
We’d also like to thank St Aubyn’s Estate for welcoming the children to the island.
