Reading Ancient Schoolroom
Activities, Prices, Our materials and space, Research, Our history, Testimonials, Curriculum links, Butser, Our team, Volunteer with us, Do it yourself
The Reading Ancient Schoolroom is an educational charity (registration number 1204349) that enables modern students to find out first-hand what the ancient world was really like by attending a re-created ancient school. Following Reading academics’ meticulous research (see here) into schooling in the ancient world, we have created a replica ancient school, in which all participants wear Roman costumes and use replica ancient writing materials including wax tablets, styluses, reed pens, inkwells, ostraca, and papyrus (for more information see here). Students practise the type of exercises that were commonly done in ancient schools, normally in English, though Latin and Greek are also available (for the activities see here), and do so in a setting that uses the ancient rather than modern educational conventions. These conventions include entering the schoolroom one by one and greeting the teacher, no lecturing from the teacher, and students working individually at their own pace. The schoolroom receives praise from students and their teachers alike; for their comments, see here.
We offer visits both for primary and secondary schools and most of our activities are available (appropriately adjusted) for all ages and abilities. The schoolroom can support study of the Romans, Greeks, and/or Egyptians; it comes in two versions, either set in Graeco-Roman Egypt or set in Roman Britain. Would you like us to visit your school? If so, please let us know (E.Dickey@reading.ac.uk)! On other pages of this site you can find out more about the activities available, the prices, and information about how they can work with your curriculum.
You can watch a short (8-minute) film about the schoolroom here: https://youtu.be/gjelkRKnJOQ. The film was made by Motion Blurr films (thank you Motion Blurr!), commissioned by the University of Reading (thank you Reading!), and features students from Dolphin School (thank you Dolphin!!!). A 1-minute clip is also available here: https://youtu.be/AdH6d63Y9zE.
For more information contact the Director, University of Reading professor Eleanor Dickey FBA, at E.Dickey@reading.ac.uk.
Reading Ancient Schoolroom 