Educational Partners
Children’s Festival of Welsh History
The Festival’s purpose is to encourage interest and enjoyment, mainly amongst children, relating to Welsh history, and create unique opportunities to learn about characters and stories from the past; discover sites of historical importance, and celebrate Wales’ rich heritage.
The festival was first held in September 2015, following one of the festival’s Board members, Eleri Twynog, seeing a performance for children, based on the story of Henry Tudor, at Raglan Castle. It was a thrilling experience which planted the idea of holding an annual festival at locations all over Wales, to celebrate Welsh history.
The festival is not for profit, and every September and October, over a period of six weeks, heritage sites come to life with performances; workshops and exhibitions. As well as live events, many sessions are held online thus extending the festival’s reach and appeal. Since it’s inception, and with the support of many partners, the festival has co-ordinated hundreds of events and welcomed thousands of children to take part.
Cadw’s Lifelong Learning Team have supported this festival enthusiastically for many years, even during the difficulties and restrictions of the pandemic. We have seen at first hand the pure enjoyment of learning taking place through these magical experiences, set in our extraordinary sites across Wales, where the history actually happened.
Welsh Schools Heritage Initiative
The Welsh Heritage Schools Initiative aims to encourage young people, of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, to take a greater interest in their Welsh heritage (Cynefin and Stori Cymru), to find out more about the wealth and diversity of their heritage and to share their knowledge and understanding with their own communities and the wider world.
The Initiative holds an annual competition for heritage projects in schools, encouraging and fostering the development of cross-curricular skills through the study of the history and culture of Wales. The new curriculum provides rich opportunities for exploring the heritage of Wales and the concept of cynefin with learners in all settings in Wales.
The word "heritage" is interpreted in the widest sense, to include people and their social history, religion, traditions and culture; the world of work, agriculture, industry, finance, commerce, science, technology, arts and sport.
These projects can be part of the usual curriculum-focused work carried out as part of the timetable, or they can reflect work done by the school to commemorate a local event, person or building. The project work undertaken for this competition will address many of the requirements for history in the new Curriculum for Wales.
The projects require research, collection of materials, analysis and evaluation and communication skills. They may be presented as exhibitions, performances, restorations and other forms of contribution to heritage, or as records in print or electronic form. Schools are encouraged to disseminate their findings. Assessment of the project will take into account the appropriate level of literacy, numeracy and information technology skills.
Cadw have supported WSHI for many years and encourage schools to participate.
WSHI organise an annual competition for heritage projects in schools in Wales with numerous monetary prizes with up to £1000 for the winners.
