Time travelling Lybster pupils go back to 1893 on Victorian Day
Pupils at Lybster went back in time to experience what school might have been like in the village 130 years ago.
The primary three and four pupils held a Victorian Day, where they took part in classes to experience what their education would have been like in 1893.
They have been studying the Victorians for two terms, and have been researching Queen Victoria herself and what life was like for children at Victorian schools.
The day began with the national anthem – God Save the Queen – and a short talk about Queen Victoria, and afterwards the children said the Lord’s Prayer. This was followed by arithmetic, which involved reciting times tables – all the way up to 13-times table.
Some children took it in turns to lead the class in reciting the tables, and everyone soon learnt not to fidget or swing their legs under the table, because the teacher had a little stick which she hit the table with if anyone was misbehaving.
The next lesson was handwriting, and everyone had to use their right hand to write, or they had to write lines on the blackboard. Pupils copied out a list of proverbs, either in a sand tray, on a slate or in a copybook.
After that, there was a reading from the Bible about David and Goliath, which was difficult to understand because the language was very different from how stories are usually shared in today's RME lessons! Religion was very important in Victorian schools so, before lunch, the teacher said grace.
After lunch, there was writing and art. Pupils had to choose the proverb which they felt best matched themselves and then decorate it with pictures of flowers, trees and birds. Because Victorian children didn’t have wax or pencil crayons in school, pupils could only use normal pencils for shading. School finished with the national anthem again and more prayers.
Judith Crow, the class teacher, said: “Sometimes you need to experience something in an immersive way before you can fully understand it. There are lots of things that we take for granted now, like being able to write with whichever hand we want or girls and boys being equal in the classroom, which wasn’t the case in Victorian times, and the pupils were understandably very shocked by this.
"Our Victorian Day was a great experience and I think we all learnt a lot – mostly that we’re lucky to be learning (and teaching) in the 21st century!”
Head teacher Denise Walsh said: “Miss Crow made the Victorian Day an experience that they will remember. The children engaged in the experience with enthusiasm and resilience. The children’s discussions with myself about their learning afterwards was extremely animated and knowledgeable.”
