Back In Time to Victorian Britain

Year 6 pupils experienced a wide range of chores, tasks and events from the period in a series of living history workshops at the Museum of Kent Life near Maidstone.

The Victorian schoolroom was a favourite experience that showcases how education has changed, from having a boys’ and girls’ side of the room; they also had the chance to write on slates, recite the alphabet and found out about punishments available to teachers such as administering with the cane or to being banished to the corner of the room in a dunces’ hat.

The year group also found out about the type of jobs children had to do during the industrial revolution and these included working in factories, as chimney sweeps and on board ships.

Victorian homes could get extremely drafty in wintertime, so women who were not from wealthy backgrounds were expected to make rugs to cover the floors using strips of rags. The children had a go at making their own and used 'bodgers' to feed scraps of rag through a piece of hessian sack.

They also met Florence Nightingale who explained how she revolutionised the care of sick and wounded soldiers during the Crimean war, and her ground-breaking training of nurses and improvements in the treatment and care of the wounded. Year 6 then put their own nursing and bandaging skills to the test with interesting results.

The hectic life below stairs that ran a rich Victorian household involved a variety of chores and pupils were allocated roles from butlers and housekeepers to scullery maids and valets.

Shopping saw the convenience of today’s supermarkets replaced by small retailers specialising in specific foods, and pupils became workers delivering milk and bread and also had to queue to buy different types of food.

On a tour of the Victorian farmhouse pupils found out how water was fetched and heated, how clothes were washed and how the families might entertain themselves in a world without modern technology.

Head of School Nick Budge said: “Experiencing life in Victorian Britain gave our pupils a snapshot into yesteryear, and they were able to compare and contrast their daily lives to those from the past, as well as understanding the extremes between the social poverty and wealth of the era.

“The year group are embracing learning about people from the past in their thematic curriculum and the Victorian era is a vibrant and fascinating part of their journey through social change.

“The living exhibition at the Museum of Kent Life expertly underpins and expands upon their knowledge gained in class.”

*Find out more about the Museum of Kent Life online at www. kentlife.org.uk

Ramsgate Arts Primary is part of the Viking Academy Trust with its partner schools Chilton Primary in Ramsgate and Upton Juniors in Broadstairs.

**Contact Head of School Nick Budge on 01843 582847