Year 4 at Surbiton High Junior Girls’ School experience a Victorian Day - 14/06/2010

Year 4 were greeted at the back door by two stern Victorian teachers on Tuesday and were transported back over a hundred years to experience what life was like for children. Their day started with a mock Victorian classroom scene and included hand inspection, manners and reading. Although no one was given the cane, the dunce's hat was given as a form of punishment. The girls had spent their weekend learning a Victorian poem and were tested on this, they even had an exciting lesson on the potato! They then took part in a workshop by The Rainbow Theatre group. This allowed each child to participate in different scenes depicting the harsh and cruel conditions that children were forced to work in. It really opened their eyes to how children were treated. After the workshop the girls made soda bread and butter ready for their afternoon session. The afternoon brought with it the delights of Victorian food and training for future jobs in household employment. There were four tables each containing different foods from different levels of society. The poor table gave the girls the opportunity to experience gruel and the soda bread they had made earlier on. The rich table was hugely popular, with Victorian sponges and scones to enjoy. They also visited a Victorian sweetshop and looked at some of the products they recognise today that were from the Victorian era. To enable the children to find employment in a household after they complete school they were shown important skills, table laying, shoe polishing and fire lighter making. Their school shoes looked polished and all involved felt that this was an important life skill to take with them. We would like to thank all the parents for providing the fantastic costumes for the day. A huge thank you also goes to Mrs Fraser for helping with all the cooking and food preparation and the parents who volunteered throughout the day to allow us to hold such an exciting event.

As part of our Victorian Day we made soda bread. We had to use flour, salt, butter and yoghurt. We loved kneading the dough and patting it. Afterwards we ate the bread, it was delicious. Lauren Semple 4VC

I really enjoyed the start of the day when we had a lesson just like the Victorians. Mrs Luke was very strict and we got told off a lot. Izzy Melyer 4VC

First thing in the morning we had to line up outside the classroom in two lines, one for boys and one for girls. We had to say our ABCs to Mrs Luke. When we took the register we had to stand and say, "Present Miss". Mrs Luke made Ellen wear a hat with a ‘D' on. Then we described a potato and wrote as neat as we could, "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better best." Hannah Ralph 4L

I really enjoyed acting and watching the Rainbow Theatre. I was a chimney sweep and sadly Poppy died as a fire was lit under her as she swept the chimney. It was an hour of fun, but scary as the teachers were so strict! Josie Hancock 4L

During food tasting we had four tables, rich, poor, store cupboard and sweetshop. We were split into groups and explored each of the tables trying different Victorian goods as we went. It was really fun and we got to eat two sweets from the shop! Elsa Tempest 4L

I really liked it when the Rainbow Theatre came. When we walked into the hall I was scared due to the shouting of the actors. I could not believe that adults hit children at school when they did something wrong. Eeva-Marie Ball 4VC

Year 4 had a great Victorian Day. Some of us were learning how to be house maids. We learnt how to lay a table for a rich person. We also learnt how to polish our shoes. Maddie Disney 4L

The food tasting was really yummy, I loved the sweet shop and the rich table. When we were training to be house maids I laid the table really quickly, making fire lighter was really cool. Ellen Mae Foster 4VC