One of the threads that run through our Federation History Curriculum is “Sources” so we started the day with an assembly where the children were shown old school artefacts and they had to guess what they were. They found out about log books and how that the information that they used to day came from the original log book which was like a diary of events.
Year 3 really enjoyed the journey back in time to Victorian schooling!
The children practised using cursive handwriting to form letters of the alphabet. There was much hilarity and mirth at some of the letters, particularly – f, s, g, with the children insisting they could not find them on the board!
Once the year group had honed their skills with the alphabet, some of them copied a well-used Victorian school phrase:
Good, better, best,
Never let it rest,
Til your good is better,
And your better, best.
They also wrote their names using their best handwriting.
The children learnt all about corporal punishment – the Dunce’s hat and the cane. We learnt how everyone had to be right handed and how left handed children were taught to write with their other hand.
We explored the local area and looked at how it had changed over time – using maps of the local area. The children were fascinated to learn that Toftwood Social Club was the original local school.
We also took part in a Physical Training session. It was very different to our normal PE sessions and the children thought it was enjoyable – though they are pleased we have our PE lessons, not Victorian ones, twice a week!
In Year 4, we learnt all about the history of our school. We started off by looking at what our school used to look like. We compared the similarities and differences between what our school looks like now and then. Additionally, we looked at different occupations available for people in 1873 and did some research based on a chosen occupation. In the afternoon, we looked at the PE exercises (Drill) that the children used to do. The children enjoyed being the teachers and giving different commands to the class. We finished the day by playing some Victorian playground games.
In Year 5 we presented our work on a double page spread to show all the information we had learnt throughout the day. We were also able to handle the artefacts carefully. We used our inference skills to interpret facts from the data ie
“March 15th 1876 Sent to Mrs Land to obtain the ages of her children as I discovered that though in their school previously to my undertaking charge, their ages had not been entered in the Admission Register. Mrs Land in reply said, “she could not recollect nearer than the month, “ being unable to state the exact days on which they completed their 12th 10th and 7th years respectively.”
“April 25th 1876 Sent again for ages of children, which I had previously failed to procure. Their mother had promised to obtain them from the parish register.” We can infer that they might not have had calendars or celebrate birthdays on the exact day.
“July 10th 1877 Chain and padlock put on the pumps to prevent the waste of water.” We can infer that they had no inside taps.
Next we looked at extracts from the Parish records 1873 and we were amazed at the variety of occupations that were in Dereham at the time eg. Hawker, Umbrella Maker, Glove Maker, Horse Dealer and Tailer etc.
The children were also amused and shocked when looking at the punishments that were given and for offences such as singing on their way out of school. We also tried some of the Drill exercises.
Year 6 had a fantastic history day. They really enjoyed learning about the history of our school and local area. We explored physical activity drills, punishments, occupations and illnesses. They then completed a double page spread with all of the information they had learned.
