Topic summary

Activity 1 - Attending school: clothing, fees and rules

With the help of photographs, extracts from Victorian school logbooks, and posters, children will find out what Victorian children wore at school, understand that school rules were strict, and that some Victorian children could not afford to go to school as they were charged a fee to attend.

This activity includes an additional theme that could be used as homework or a short classroom task: 1a - Absenteeism. Working with extracts from school logbooks, a print from Punch magazine, and a painting, children will understand why Victorian children sometimes did not attend school.

Activity 2 – Classroom and lessons

Using a Victorian school timetable, a directory, prints, photographs, school advertisements, and videos of a recreated 'Victorian' lesson, children will discover what Victorian children were taught at school and the equipment they used, and make comparisons with today’s schools.

This activity includes an additional theme that could be used as homework or a short classroom task: 2a - School Treats. By studying Victorian newspaper articles, children will learn about school treats that  were organised for Victorian children.

Activity 3 – Videos

Contains a selection of videos of children from Singleton C.E. Primary School taking part in a 'Victorian' lesson in the West Wittering School classroom at the Weald and Downland Open Air museum. These videos can be used with Activity 2 or on their own to illustrate different aspects of Victorian education.

To save time in the classroom, it is recommended to save video files to your computer (right click, then 'Save target as') for faster playback during the lesson.

Note
At some stage during the teaching of these activities, it would be useful to have a class discussion about sources. How could we find out about schooling in our local area in Victorian times? What sources of information could we use? Possibilities will include: libraries, museums, and the internet, especially websites with local content, such as West Sussex Past Pictures.