A NEW new season of school’s educational workshops were kick-started at Durham Cathedral with a visit a group of primary school children today (Monday, April 27).

About 30 six and seven-year-old pupils from Langley Moor Primary School spent the morning inside the cathedral itself learning all about the story of St Cuthbert as part of their religious education.

In the afternoon, the children they moved to the cathedral’s woodlands and riverbanks, where they did sessions on plants, animals and habitats to complement their science education.

Durham Cathedral’s head of education, Charlotte Rowbotham, said: “Over the last year we have worked hard to increase the range of educational activities that we offer here at the cathedral and we now cover an even more comprehensive range of the new National Curriculum areas.

“We feel that it is so important for local schoolchildren to come to Durham Cathedral and learn not only about the religious history and heritage of this world-famous Cathedral, but also about the site itself and what makes it unique.”

She added: “Our new season of school tours and workshops reflect that approach and we know from our own experience as teachers that staff in particular really appreciate the opportunity to book a visit that covers so many curriculum areas in one trip.”

The range of school workshop sessions now offered on the cathedral site cover a broad spectrum, including the cathedral’s role as a church and centre for pilgrimage, the Anglo Saxons and monastic life in the medieval period, as well as its architecture and art.

Durham Cathedral’s education team also run an outreach programme where they are able to take their expertise out to local schools as part of curriculum enrichment days within a school’s own grounds.

For more information visit www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/learning/school-visits or email education@durhamcathedral.co.uk.