Year 5 experienced what life in a Victorian school would have been like with their very strict teacher Mrs Hesford! They were instructed to line up silently and dictate the school rules, then copy the alphabet neatly onto their slate using chalk- any broken chalks, mistakes or (shock horror!) asking questions would result in immediate punishment and the wearing of the dunces hat.
We then talked through what a typical day would have been like, comparing uniform, lessons, equipment and punishments. The children then created their own quizzes to test each other’s knowledge about Victorian school life before we discussed the 1880 school reformation laws.
