It was time for our Year 7 students to ‘go Greek, due to their learning in Humanities being focused on the Ancient Greek Olympics. This was an excellent opportunity for our students to participate in some interdisciplinary learning with the Humanities and PE Departments coming together to plan this exciting project and experience the Olympic games!

In Ancient Greece, only men were able to compete, and games were performed while contestants were naked. This clearly created an issue for us and as such we made our ‘games’ inclusive for all genders and students wore a toga to keep with the theme of the times.

During the ancient games, competitors joined in a range of events, including the 200 and 400 meter race, shot put, discus, javelin, boxing, wresting and pankration, similar to modern MMA fighting. As you can imagine, some of those events were not appropriate, so instead our students participated in some running and throwing events.

The ancient Olympic Games had no gold, silver, or bronze medals. There was only one winner per event, crowned with an olive wreath made from the wild-olive leaves that grew on a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at Olympia.

We tried to be as historically accurate as possible and as such the students were awarded with an olive wreath they had created during their Humanities lesson. What fun they had and what an experience to bring history to life!