The intermediate Latin class, which is doing a special study of the Roman Army, turned its attention to Roman forts and fortresses. 
The Romans were great fort-builders. They could build them on the march if they were in enemy territory or they could build them to be permanent. The forts built on the march were built by the legionaries themselves.
As part of this study, the class was divided into Legions and had to construct a Roman fort. Each legion used a copy of the Usborne Books cut-out models series, Make this Roman Fort.

An aspect of Roman fort building which aided their fast construction was their shape and layout. This we experienced ourselves as the cut-out models were all the same. The base is a rectangle with rounded corners, like a playing card.  
The best thing about the construction was familiarising ourselves with the different buildings within the fort: the principia (the headquarters), praetorium (the commander’s house), sacellum (or chapel) and barracks. 

Competing in teams (Legions) to build the best fort in class, the Legion Fulminata won because we had good technical skills, thanks particularly to James Brown, and we worked consistently as a team… or as a Legion. It took us time but not even Rome was built in a day.  

 

 - Noah Wiemer (Year 8)