Earlham Primary School

Year 2 had a great day at the Ragged School Museum. 

This was a fantastic opportunity to enhance our learning about the Victorians and how they used to live. The children experienced a wonderful story about a girl called Polly and her daily routine which consisted of washing, cleaning, mending and cooking all day, while her brothers and sisters worked in different jobs - as a chimney sweep, a mudlark and a gut girl (cleaning and gutting fish in a factory - yuk!). None of them got to go to school because they had to work. Our Year 2 children had a chance to role play these parts from Polly's life which helped them understand just how hard it was to be poor in Victorian London.

We then time travelled back to 1888 and became pupils in a Victorian classroom at the Ragged School. These were schools set up by Dr Barnardo to ensure that poor children had an education. We discovered how strict teachers were back then and we found out about the different methods they used to manage behaviour - including a back straightener for slouchers, finger stocks for fidgeters, and a dunce hat for the really naughty children. We have been talking about how school today is different to Victorian schools, and we're very happy to be in our fantastic school here at Earlham today!

As always, a huge thanks to our fantastic parent volunteers who came with us.