HOLIDAY MEMORY CHALLENGE
YEAR 7
HUMANITIES - History
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The Bayeux Tapestry is 70m long - about the length of 3 swimming pools.
Knights met each other at combined speeds of 60 mph when jousting.
Football was illegal in the Middle Ages.
One of the cures of the Black Death was to rub a chopped up snake on the infected boils.
The floor of a villager’s house in the Middle Ages was made out of mud, straw and ox’s blood.
Religious Studies
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Easter is the most important time in the Christian calendar. Easter forms part of Holy week.
Holy week consists of Palm Sunday - the week before Easter Sunday, Good Thursday - the day of
Jesus' Last Supper, Good Friday - the day that Jesus was crucified and Easter Sunday the day
Jesus rose from the dead.
The man who betrayed Jesus Christ, which led to his crucifixion was Judas Iscariot.
Good Friday is the day that Jesus died. It is called Good Friday as Jesus died for the good of
mankind.
In Christian faith eggs represent a symbol of new beginnings, new life and renewed faith.
The act of exchanging gifts of eggs dates back to the time of the Egyptians and Persians. Painted
eggs were given as gifts to symbolise fertility and new life.
The tallest chocolate Easter egg ever was made in Italy in 2011. At 10.39 metres in height and 7,200
kg in weight, it was taller than a giraffe and heavier than an elephant!
Geography
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The ‘Ring of Fire’ is the region of plate boundaries surrounding the Pacific Ocean with many
volcanoes and lots of earthquake activity.
97% of the world’s water is found in the oceans. Only 0.8% is found in rivers and lakes.
There is no land at the North Pole, only frozen sea ice. The closest land is in Greenland, but this is
still nearly 500 miles away.
The shortest name for a town or village in the world is shared by two places, one in Norway and one
in Sweden. They share the name Å.
In 2013 snow fell in parts of Egypt, Africa for the first time in over 100 years. Many camels were left
feeling very confused.
PE
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Warm-Up- The first stage of an exercise program to get the heart and muscles ready to work
Your heart is the strongest muscle of your body and beats about 100,000 times in one day, in an
average adult.
There are 206 bones in the human body. One quarter of them are in your feet.
Sheffield FC is the world’s oldest football club.
The grass at Wimbledon was kept two inches long until 1949 when an English tennis player was
bitten by a snake.
London, United Kingdom, hosted the Summer Olympics in 1908, 1948, and 2012.
HOLIDAY MEMORY CHALLENGE
YEAR 8
ART
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Where was the contemporary artist Jon Burgerman born?
Nottingham, UK
What is a gargoyle?
A grotesque is a carved decorative human or animal face or figure projecting from the gutter of a
building, typically acting as a spout to carry water clear of a wall.
What is a grotesque?
A grotesque is a human style, fantastic or mythical figure used for decorative purposes, which
appear most commonly on religious structures but also on university buildings, town halls and even
on homes.
What is a chimera?
Chimeras are creatures that are mixes of different types of animal body parts to create a new
creature. Some of the more notable chimeras are griffin’s centaurs and mermaids. Chimeras often
served as a warning to people who underestimated the devil.
MUSIC
Here is a selection of facts linked to music. How many facts can you remember after Easter?
1.
2.
3.
4.
None of the Beatles band could read or write music.
Your heartbeat mimics the beat of the music you're listening to.
A song that gets stuck in your head on repeat is called an earworm.
Rapper No Clue set the world record in 2005 for fastest rapper by rapping 723 syllables in 51.27
seconds.
Listening to a happy or sad song not only affects your mood but can also change your perception of the
world around you. You may recognize happiness or sadness more in others depending on the song.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
CAD – Computer Aided Design
This means using computer drawing and modelling packages to design products
instead of paper and pen.
Advantages of CAD
• It can be more accurate than hand drawings.
• You can save and edit ideas, which makes it easier and cheaper to modify your design as you go
along.
Disadvantages of CAD
• The software itself can be expensive so initial costs are high.
• Requires a PC.
HOLIDAY MEMORY CHALLENGE
YEAR 9
FRENCH
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One of the most popular French films ever was Amelie until the Untouchables in 2012.
The French produce between 200-300 films per year.
France's national film awards are the Cesar's held in February in Paris.
The Cannes film festival is one of the most prestigious and publicised film festivals in the world.
Paris has the highest density of cinemas in the world.
Gerard Depardieu was one of the first French actors to make it big in American movies.
The film Taxi 2 was directed by Gérard Krawczyk and released in 2000.
WELSH
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Lamb is the meat traditionally associated with Welsh cooking owing to the amount of sheep farming
in the country
The patron saint of Wales is St David and St David’s Day on cyntaf Mawrth. People wear a daffodil
on their shirt to recognise him. The smallest city in Britain is named after him and the dragon he is
said to have fought is on the Welsh flag.
Wales is often termed "the land of song" the country is known for its harpists, male choirs, and solo
artists.
The Welsh for the original national emblem is Cenhinen, while the Welsh for daffodil is Cenhinen
Pedr. People became confused so the daffodil was adopted as a second emblem of Wales.
The country of Wales is said to contain more castles per square mile than any other country in the
world.
Major Wingfield is generally credited with inventing lawn tennis when in 1873 he designed a similar
game for his guests to play on his estate of Nantclwyd in Llanelidan Wales.
HOLIDAY MEMORY CHALLENGE
YEAR 10
ENGLISH
1. Verbs are words of doing or being. They change depending on the tense and the person/thing
performing the verb.
2. Nouns are naming words. They can be concrete (things we can detect with our senses), abstract
(concepts or ideas), common (ordinary things) or proper (names of particular people, places,
events, dates etc.).
3. Adjectives describe the nouns. They can be descriptive (a blue chair) or opinionated (a lovely
chair).
4. Adverbs describe verbs or adjectives. They often end with -ly and describe how, where or when,
e.g. laugh loudly; extremely small.
5. Pronouns can be used instead of a noun, e.g. that, those, he, she, it, you, we, I. They can be
personal (I, me, we, you) or possessive (our, their, your, my).
HOLIDAY MEMORY CHALLENGE
YEAR 11
DRAMA
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Shakespeare's Globe is the only building in London allowed to have a thatched roof since the
Great Fire in 1666.
British acting legend Brian Blessed has survived a plane crash, had a boxing match with the
Dalai Lama, is the oldest man to have trekked to the North Pole and helped deliver a baby in
Richmond Park.
The 2013 production of Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre holds the record
for most 5 star reviews ever awarded to a musical in the West End
Thespis is credited with being the person who invented the idea of the actor. It is from him
that we get ‘thespian’
Prior to becoming Pope, Pope John Paul II wrote a play called The Jeweller's Shop which
played the Westminster Theatre in 1982
7. Noel Coward ran the British propaganda office in Paris during World War II
8. Two seats are permanently bolted open at the Palace Theatre for the theatre ghosts to sit in
9. “The Intimate Review” holds the record for the shortest run in West End history, closing
before the end of its first performance
10. William Shakespeare once had to play Lady Macbeth when Hal Berridge, the boy playing
her, died suddenly
BUSINESS STUDIES