P7 recently visited Scotland Street School to link in with our learning about the Victorian Era and children’s rights in class. We turned back the clock, dressed as Victorian school children and took part in a lesson. The teacher was really strict and we were all a little nervous in case we ended up getting the belt or becoming the class dunce! Children would never be treated in that way now because we have children’s rights to protect us. We had to chant our times tables over and over again (which we all thought it was a little boring!) and then stand when the teacher asked us a times table question from the ‘clock face’. Writing on slate was not easy and it was difficult to keep up with the mental maths questions. Finally we had to write the alphabet using a pen and inkwell. We had to blot the paper when we used too much ink! At the end of our lesson we took part in ‘drill’ which is kind of like P.E but just standing on the spot, not at all like we have nowadays. It’s safe to say…we were not impressed! When the ‘2014’ bell rang, the teacher came out of character and talked to us about the differences between school in the Victorian era and school now, funnily enough, most of us preferred school now. David volunteered to try on the dunce hat and we all had a good laugh, including David! What a fantastic trip!