This workshop introduces pupils to documents about Victorian child criminals and the background of Victorian crime and punishment. Working in groups, pupils study documents relating to a particular Victorian child who was sent to prison. The documents contain a photograph of each child, with details of their name, age, address, crime committed and punishment received.
For the first part of the workshop, pupils will feed back what they have found out about their child. They will look at additional documents relating to Victorian prisons to investigate what conditions and punishments were really like. The education officer delivering the workshop will lead a discussion on the social and economic background of these children´s lives, and Victorian attitudes to crime and punishment, to provide a context for understanding these cases.
For the second part of the workshop, pupils will learn to write a poem about their Victorian child criminal in the first person. The use of metaphors to help them describe their thoughts and feelings as this child will be explained and discussed. They will then use these ideas to write their own poem and demonstrate their empathy with their Victorian child and understanding of the period.
Session options
This session can be delivered as a
Workshop
Videoconference
Virtual classroom
