On Wednesday Bears came in to school very excited for their trip to Revely Lodge. They helped each other to put on the high vis jackets and listened carefully to which group they were going to be in and then we were off.
We walked all the way there holding our partners hand to make sure we kept them safe. Mr Barrell’s group counted the roads we had to cross, there were 11! Finally after all those roads we arrived.
The adults at Revely Lodge told us a bit about the house and what life would have been like to live there then we got dressed up to look like VIctorians. The girls wore smocks and the boys had waistcoats.
We learnt how the laundry would have been done before electricity. We were interested to find out they used a dolly tub and dolly stall, and watched how they turned a bar of soap into soap powder, we thought this was very exciting! We saw the mangle they would have used to get the clothes dry enough to hang out on the line and were very pleased to be allowed to have a turn to test out these artefacts.
We also spent some time in a Victorian classroom. We were shocked to find out that the children had to pay to go to school. Unfortunately some of us had forgotten our coins so had to explain to Mam why. One excuse we came up with was that our grown up’s had had to use the money to buy bread so we could eat. We had a go at writing on a slate board with a slate pen and the inspector came to visit whilst we were there. She looked in the attendance book and the punishment book. Some children had to have the cane! They had been late to class and talking in lessons.
Finally we had some afternoon tea. The grown up’s taught us how to hold the tea cups correctly and how to put just enough jam on the bread for one mouthful. We also enjoyed the Victoria sponge cake.
We had a great time at Reveley Lodge and learnt lots.
How to support at home
- Visit Reveley Lodge with your family – show them some of the things you now know about
- Look out for old houses and buildings when walking – what do you think they were like in the past?
- Talk to grandparents about their lives growing up – what was the same? different?
- Vsit the library – look in the History section to find out more about life in the past.
- Next half term we will be learning about seaside holidays in the Victorian times – can you find out any information in preparation for our topic?