A colour illustrated series portraying life in Wales through the centuries by means of stories about the lives of various historical characters, to coincide with the History Curriculum for Key Stage 2 pupils. Welsh versions and large size book versions of the stories are available.

Cyfres wedi ei darlunio'n lliwgar yn portreadu bywyd yng Nghymru ar hyd yr oesau drwy gyfrwng straeon am gymeriadau hanesyddol amrywiol, i gydfynd â'r Cwricwlwm Cenedlaethol ym maes Hanes i ddisgyblion Cyfnod Allweddol 2. Mae fersiynau Cymraeg a fersiynau llyfrau maint mawr o'r straeon ar gael.

Welsh History Stories

Erddig: The Servants’ Day

My views and opinions – by Velvor Raw-Rees
Ysgol Gynradd Comins Coch, Ceredigion

A delight for a teacher to read

As a busy class teacher who has to search in numerous resource books to find historical information that is suitable for pupils aged 7 to 9, it was a great delight for me to read these books.

A personal view of history

I find the best way to capture the interest an imagination of children of this age is by introducing a character from the period and investigate his or her way of life. By getting to know a character we can investigate how he or she would have coped in an historical event of the time. The stories in this series of booklets certainly helped to develop this method of teaching.

The Welsh History Stories describe the experiences of different people, men, women and children of different social and ethnic backgrounds and reflect their experiences in many of the historic events that have made Wales the country it is today. I found that the children could relate to the stories when they were investigating different historical themes particularly the ‘Miners in Wales’, ‘House and Households’, ‘Events in the Stuart Times’ and ‘Children in the Victorian Times’. The stories provided the Welsh aspect that we are expected to teach when studying the different historical themes.

The books are suitable for pupils of all abilities

The stories provide an opportunity for the pupils to experience and interpret different aspect of history at their own level. Some of the stories provide them with information that would give knowledge of an event. At times, they were able to understand and interpret by reading and discussing amongst themselves without too much input from the class teacher. The more able pupils could enquire deeper into the historical period by looking for more historical information from books and other resources. Less able pupils on the other hand, had a better understanding, as they were able to follow the event clearly by following the colourful well-illustrated pictures that are on every page. Because of this, they were also able to contribute well in the class discussions.

Erddig: The Servants’ Day

This term we have been looking at ‘Houses and Households of Wales’. When learning about the larger households, we had the opportunity of reading Erddig; The Servants’ Day’. This story provided opportunities to explore aspects of local history. It helps the pupils to understand that a mansion of this kind provided labour for many of the local community and that working in such an establishment was a great honour. From reading this story, the pupils could imagine the daily routine that one would encounter on going back in time to any of the mansion houses in Wales. The illustrations in this book yet again triggered the imagination and interest of every pupil in the class. They thoroughly enjoyed taking the role of the different characters of the servants which are illustrated in the book.

Detailed reviews of other booklets

Other detailed reviews are included under the descriptions of individual booklets.

A source of information which can trigger their young minds

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed reading and working on this series of booklets. I feel that they had a much better knowledge and understanding of the historical periods covered by using them. The simple but informative stories together with the colourful detailed illustrations provide the children of lower and upper Key Stage 2 with information that helps trigger their imaginative, inquisitive minds.

What the pupils said:

Sarah:
I enjoyed learning about the coal miners. The story was interesting. It did not have too much print and the pictures helped us to see how life was in the colliery and in the mining valleys of South Wales. I learnt that it was very hard working underground. I would not have liked to be Ivor. It must have been terrible for him when the colliery closed and him going on the dole. I can understand why they had to protest and go on strike.

Liam G
We have been learning about the Great Plague. I enjoyed reading John Davids and the Plague. It must have been terrible to live in Haverfordwest in the 1650s. The pictures in this book are good and show us how they tried to get rid of the disease. I liked the book because I could read it easily. It was not too long. It was very creepy how the disease spread from one person to another.

Daniel J
I enjoyed learning about schools in the Victorian times. I would not have liked to be in such a strict school. It was not fair that they could not speak Welsh in class especially because they could not really speak English. I think O. M. Edwards was a very brave man. I am glad he changed things in our schools and children can speak their own language in school. This book had really good pictures of how things were during this time.

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.