This morning, we had our dress rehearsal for our Year 5 Victorian Christmas Showcase.
No spoilers here – just come along and watch it tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm or Wednesday evening at 6 pm.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Yesterday’s trip to the Ragged School in Mile End, East London was one of those experiences that will forever be etched in the memories of our Year 5 children, especially their experience of being taught by Mrs. Perkins, a prim and proper Victorian school mistress that none of us would dare to mess with!
The Ragged School, which is situated in the heart of the East End next to Mile End Park and alongside the Regents Canal, is one of the original schools set up by Dr. Thomas Barnardo in 1877 for destitute street children. It is now a museum, run by The Ragged School Trust and is dependent on volunteers, who do a wonderful job in educating children in how the school ran and how hard life was for the poor children of this area during the Victorian era of the Industrial Revolution.
As our Year 5 Victorian Showcase is fast approaching next week ,we don’t want to give too much away about our trip at this stage ! Meanwhile, here are the photos to give you a flavour of what the children thoroughly enjoyed experiencing and learning about in the Victorian Classroom and a Victorian East End Kitchen workshops:
MORE INFORMATION TAKEN FROM THE RAGGED SCHOOL WEBSITE:
The Ragged School Museum is housed in a group of three canalside buildings which once formed the largest “ragged” or free school in London.
When Thomas Barnardo came to London from his home city of Dublin in 1866, intending to train as a doctor and then become a missionary in China, he was confronted by a city where disease was rife, poverty and overcrowding endemic and educational opportunities for the poor were non-existent. He watched helplessly as a cholera epidemic swept through the East End, leaving over 3,000 Londoners dead and many destitute.
He gave up his medical training to pursue his local missionary works and in 1867 opened his first “ragged school” where children could gain a free basic education.
Ten years later, Barnardo’s Copperfield Road Free School opened its doors to children and for the next thirty-one years educated tens of thousands of children. It closed in 1908 by which time enough government schools had opened in the area to serve the needs of local families.
The buildings, originally warehouses for goods transported along the Regent’s Canal, then went through a variety of industrial uses until, in the early 1980s, they were threatened with demolition.
It was then that a group of local people joined together to save them and reclaim their unique heritage. The Ragged School Museum Trust was set up and the museum opened in 1990.
The museum was founded to make the history of the Ragged Schools and the broader social history of the Victorian East End accessible to all. Within the original buildings, an authentic Victorian Classroom has been set up where each year some 16,000 children experience a school lesson as it would have been taught more than 100 years ago.
We have also recreated a Victorian East End Kitchen from the 1900s, demonstrating what life would have been like in a simple, one-room home with no electricity or running water.
The museum has several gallery areas, a reconstructed Victorian Classroom and a Victorian East End Kitchen displaying its own collection of historical objects, all designed for hands-on inspection. This is a museum where you can sit at the school desks, use the tin bath and experience what life was like for the Victorian poor of the East End of London
We have now had 7 Trumpet/Trombone Brass lessons, led by Mr. Driscoll on Friday afternoons.
These sessions are immensely enjoyable and such a fantastic opportunity for the Year 5 children to learn a range of skills, as well as being able to express themselves musically.
So far, the children have learned how to play the notes C, D and E, in addition to beginning to read music- with an understanding of the stave, the value of notes, the importance of rests and time notation, as well as the terminology of QUAVERS, CROTCHETS and MINIMS.
Here are a few photos of the children immersed in the experience of ‘brass instrumentalisation’ ! :
Today, the children in Year 5 began learning their new model text of ‘The story of Arthur Atkins’ , a Resolution story from which they will innovate the own stories in the next week and beyond.
The children enjoyed working in groups to tell the five different sections which made up the story , demonstrating and teaching the actions which will help the whole class to learn the story and make it memorable.
WHAT HELPED US TODAY:
Good eye contact
Changes in tone (soft/loud)
Different accents/ voices
Memorable actions
Physically moving around
Humour!
Repetition
Pace
T4W Known Actions
This afternoon, we set up our classrooms like a Victorian classroom; with chalkboards, an abacus, Dunce’s hat (Don’t worry, no-one was forced to wear it!) and a variety of other props and stimulating primary resources.
The teachers and staff team dressed up as Victorian teachers and delivered some Victorian style ‘rote learning’ for learning times tables and taught the Year 5 children how to write in the copper-plate handwriting style of these times.
We discussed what it would have been like for children in this historical period, after the monumental Education Act of 1870 was passed and revolutionised schooling in this country.
The children were all very engaged and are now very enthusiastic to find out more.
On 27th November, Year 5 will be visiting ‘The Ragged School’ in Mile End, East London to experience what school life and childhood was like for the street children who went to this establishment, set up in an abandoned warehouse and run by Dr. Barnardo himself.
Last week marked our 3rd Geography Enrichment of the academic year. Themed around the concept of looking after our environment and the shared responsibilities we all hold, Sandgate Primary School was ‘Lunging for Litter’ in order to do our part for the planet!
As well as Geocaching with other year groups (a fantastic and exciting way for children to demonstrate their Friendship values), we were lucky to have visiting speakers from ActionAid, Greenpeace and ‘Save the Bees’ throughout the week; each talk discussed a different aspect of doing our part to care for our environment, both locally and globally.
Thank you to all children for their continued enthusiasm to care for our home.
Keep on lunging,
Mr. Goodeal
Today some of Year Five and Six mathematicians took on Great Chart in a competition which consisted of mental arithmetic, times tables, reasoning and puzzle problems.
We came out of it the WINNERS!! With a fantastic result from our Times Tables scores.
Well done to all those that took part and to those that made posters and cheered their school friends along.
The second day is now over – it was a perfect day and the sun shone all day long. Plenty more talks from the knowledgable keepers, safari rides, a strenuous stroll through Port Lympne for the Geckos and tree top challenge fun for the Chipmunks at Howletts.
The Year 5’s experience at the Bear Lodge has come to an end, but the memories will last a lifetime. Here are the group photos of the whole of Year 5 after a hearty breakfast …
We have had a fantastic first day and are now settled into the Bear Lodge Safari camp. We have all fed the bears, had supper and the Quiz is just about to begin.
Here we all are earlier, in the Mongolian Grill on arrival and enjoying an early lunch. Plus a few shots of the Geckos in action at the Treetop Challenge at Howletts this afternoon, following our talk at the Gorilla enclosure.
We will sleep well after all the energetic activities (here’s hoping!). More to follow tomorrow….
We arrived at our amazing huts in bear lodge. Then took the safari around the park and were surprised by all of the animals we saw. We learnt a lot from our rangers Carl and Will.
We then got to see the gorilla and bear feeds!!
After dinner we took the quiz to see what we learnt during all of the talks and walks.
