This term in the 11-19 phase our theme for creative curriculum has been ‘The Industrial Revolution’. Every class in the phase has experienced ‘A Day in the life of a Victorian Child’using the Studio’s state of the art technology to enhance the envisagement. Pupils have enjoyed dressing up in lace, mop caps and flat caps and pretending to carry out the jobs and take part in some of the experiences of a poor child from the time of the industrial revolution. Pupils have worked under dangerous conditions within a cotton factory, scurrying along the floor collecting the fallen cotton underneath loud dangerous cotton machinery. We discussed the increasing demand for cotton around the country which meant that more children had to work longer hours. Pupils pretended to load the steam locomotives with the cotton from the factories and ride the train to deliver the cotton around the country. Pupils smelt the coal, felt the steam and tooted the whistle. Children from the industrial revolution might also have worked as chimney sweeps; our pupils climbed through small tunnels, explored brushes and smelt the soot. We pretended to go to a Victorian school where the teacher was very strict and we had to work hard with our chalks and blackboards. After a long hard day we went back to our work house and ate GRUEL.. Urgghh
The pupils have really loved going back in time and experiencing early Victorian life!