Learn with Sheffield General Cemetery
Sheffield General Cemetery provides many opportunities to spark curiosity and encourage learning across all age groups. This page contains free downloadable resources for schools, parents and guardians to engage with.
Within the resources, the landscape, graves and epitaphs, burial records, archives and the historical development of Sheffield General Cemetery are used as learning material.
About the Resources
These resources have been designed to encourage learning through dialogue and creative activities in this unique outdoor environment. They are most effective when used on site, but they can also be used at home.
The resources have been placed in a general subject area and many correspond to the national curriculum. Through opportunities for dialogue and creative outdoor activities, young people can acquire additional knowledge that will support their learning across the various key stages.
To support with facilitating dialogue throughout the resources, Meghan Tipping has created some Talks Tools adapted from the principles of Philosophy for Children (P4C). You can access these via the image below.
Talk Tools
How to use Sheffield General Cemetery’s resources
Each resource is designed with an overarching enquiry question that can foster dialogue throughout the learning session and can allow the learner(s) to develop curiosity around the site and the topic. You can share the question with the learner(s) at the beginning of the session and refer to it throughout. However, there is no need to directly answer the question, it is there to guide dialogue throughout the session.
The resources outline the objective of the main activity, and the equipment lists what is needed for the activity. The sections, Prepare, Explore and Discover allow the facilitator of the activity to check for prior knowledge and share information and stories about the site.
The sections, Share, Create and Reflect, provide learner(s) with an opportunity to ponder and discuss what they have discovered, create something in the outdoor learning environment and reflect, sharing their final thoughts, which may involve referring back to the enquiry question.
Where there is an orange number this indicates that there is a corresponding additional resource available to support with the learning activity. The additional resources are optional and can support a more structured visit. As much as possible, activities use materials found in the cemetery, or reusable items.
Safety reminder: Leave everything as you found it. Do not eat anything from your visit and wash your hands after picking things up. Stick to the paths and mown grass areas— graves are unstable.