The children in Cedar Class took a trip to the British Schools Museum. We have been learning about the Victorians and wanted to experience what life would be like in a real Victorian School!
Everyone came dressed up in traditional Victorian wear for the day, with the girls wearing long skirts and pinafores and the boys wearing waistcoats. We arrived at the school and talked all about the building and Joseph Lancaster. He was the headmaster when the school was open. We learnt all about the different types of toys the children would have played with and got to explore how they worked.
It was then our turn to have a Victorian style lesson. We were greeted by a very strict teacher who took us into the classroom. First of all she inspected everyone's hands to make sure they were clean, the children who had dirty hands were told off! We then did some maths, looking at Victorian money. We were working out amounts using shillings and guineas. Writing was very different then, we practised our handwriting using an ink pen; dipping the nib in an inkwell before writing with it. We also used slateboards to write on. During our lesson we were asked tricky questions. One of us got the answer wrong and had to wear the Dunce's Hat! The cane was also given out for running across a neighbours's garden! These were both things that were not tolerated in Victorian times!
At the end of our day we took part in a Victorian style PE session. It consisted of marching and following instructions stood in lines. Even though the teacher was very scary our trip showed us how different school would have been in the Victorian times! We all had a very enjoyable day!