Boomsatsuma was recently invited by Great North Museums to take part in their annual Hadrian’s Wall Virtual Focus Day, an online festival of history and archaeology for Key Stage 2 pupils.
The Boomsatsuma Venture Studio team, alongside long term partners Time Machine Designs, shared a virtual tour of Hadrian’s Wall as it might have looked in 180 AD allowing pupils to explore forts and milecastles, settlements, harbours, bridges, weather, shipping, and even the night sky, all brought to life in great detail.
Using pre-recorded content alongside live commentary from expert Richard Blows, we delivered a livestream to over 3,600 pupils across more than 100 schools. Teachers got a full resource pack, worksheets, and links to the HW180 user guide to make the experience even more interactive.
We focused the tour on three sections of the Wall:
- Western Wall: How was the Wall built? How did the Romans structure and organise it? Pupils got a front-row seat to Roman engineering.
- Central Wall: Here we showed life along the Wall in different weather conditions and even the night sky as the Romans would have seen it over Birdoswald.
- Eastern Wall: We explored the Wall’s impact on modern Newcastle and how the line of the Wall shaped the city. Helping students see how the Romans manipulated the landscape, and how the past has an ongoing effect on the present.
- The finale took students to Arbeia Fort in South Shields, where our simulation brought the harbour to life with ships carrying grain, olive oil, soldiers, and smaller boats moving cargo up the rivers.
The session was a hit. With students asking questions throughout, it was great to see the next generation of young people engaging in our exciting projects and offer a chance to see history in context, not just in a textbook.
