This afternoon we took part in a Victorian school afternoon to learn more about how Victorian children learnt at school.

First of all we set up our classroom so that our tables were in rows. We had to sit with boys on one side and girls on the other.

When we came into the classroom we came in height order with boys first as they were more important than girls.

We took part in dictation, handwriting with chalk and with our right hand and recited our times tables.

If we spoke out of turn, were silly or work was messy we had to stand in the corner as a punishment.

“I enjoyed when we did handwriting and I had to write with my right hand. It felt really weird and sore as I write with my left” – Jenna.

“I enjoyed how scary it was in a Victorian classroom and was scared in case I had to stand in a corner” – Jason.

“I was scared as Miss Cooke was really strict. It was hard not to laugh” – Scott.

” I felt happy and excited as it was fun that we got to have our tables in rows and sat next to our friend.” – Elise

Some of us felt sad when it finished as we really enjoyed it. Miss Cooke felt very relieved as it was hard to stay really strict the whole time and not help those who found handwriting hard.