This activity puts pupils in the role as researchers for a new book on Victorian schools. They have been commissioned to write a book for key Stage 1 pupils. Therefore, it needs to be short and interesting but also accurate. They must show evidence of cross-referencing and checking the sources.
To do this, a series of photographs of classrooms from approximately 100 years ago is displayed around the room as if an art gallery. Pupils have to use just this information to come up with their special sentences. For pupils who need more support a structured grid is provided.
When the pupils have completed their comparison of the photographs and come up with some provisional sentences, they are shown examples from two Key Stage 1 books. Can they do better than this?
Following discussion pupils create their own page, using Desk-top publishing software and including a photographic image of their own choice which shows what they deem to be most typical.
| All Key Questions | Historical focus |
|---|---|
| KQ1 – What were the main changes that took place during this time? | Change and significance |
| KQ2 – Children working in Victorian factories: was it as bad as they tell us? | Evidence and interpretations |
| KQ3 – If life was so hard in the towns, why did so many people leave the countryside and move there? | Causation and migration |
| KQ3a – What the Dickens was life like in Victorian cities? | Urban life and evidence |
| KQ4 – Victorian railways: who were the winners and losers? | Consequences and change |
| KQ5a – What was it like going to school in Victorian times? | Photographic evidence and everyday life |
| KQ5c – Climbing boys enquiry | Childhood and working conditions |
| KQ6 – The Victorian Era: Dark Age or Golden Age? | Interpretation and evaluation |
