Year 5 have been getting a taste of what it was like to be at school during the Victorian time this week, when they visited the Ragged Museum. Aysia-Marie (Mayflower class) gave a very detailed account of the day, the highlight being when the children were taught lessons in a simulated Victorian classroom. The teacher shouted a lot – she reports. Boys and girls had to sit on separate sides of the rooms. The teacher also checked how clean the children’s hands and fingers were. She was very strict. One of the lessons was a handwriting lesson, using a slate board. They also completed math’s calculations using coins that were in use at that time: farthings, shillings, pennies and pounds.
They made you wear a back straightener if you slouched. They also had a ‘dunces hat’ that you had to wear if you got an answer wrong. The children looked at a variety of objects from Victorian times and found it very interesting comparing things from the past and in the present.