This term, years 3 and 4 are enjoying their topic, ‘Time Travellers’. Here they are at the Tower of London, where the children were definitely able to engage in history from a very different time! They had a tour with Samuel the merchant, who told them tales of pirate prisoners. They also went in the White Tower and saw armour and weapons. Everyone was quite mesmerised by the Crown jewels. They also saw the Tower’s famous ravens and the Beefeaters. Also, as part of their ‘Time Travellers’ topic, the same children travelled back to 1887 (when Pakeman first opened) for a lesson. Staff rearranged the desks so the children could sit in rows. They had to write in chalk and follow the strict rules of the day. This included straight posture, no talking, no hands or elbows on desk. The children learnt about money (half penny, threepence, shillings and pounds). They then worked on their elocution – repeating tongue twisters, such as ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’. After this experience, everyone discussed how they felt about their Victorian lesson, some children actually said that they preferred Victorian school!!
