Part One – Entering the Archives
Suggested inquiry questions: What would it be like to step back in time to the Victorian era?
Potential activities: Follow the suggested activities or create your own imaginative sensory learning.
You may not be able to visit The National Archives with your students, but you can literally immerse them in the world of historic documents, paper and parchment. Start your session by wrapping your students in large sheets or rolls of paper. Allow them to pull the paper tight around themselves, scrunch it up and imagine they are entering the Archives.
The following ‘tasks’ are suggested activities which you can choose from or adapt to make them suitable for your students.
Tasks
Play video one
Invite your students on a journey. ‘Hello, my name is Noel. Come with me on a journey back in time, to the days of Queen Victoria.’
Going back in time 130 years
You’ll need to travel back in time to the 1890s to experience our Victorian holiday! Use a group call and response chant or rhythmic beats on a drum to count back 130 years.
Look like a Victorian
No shorts and tee-shirts on our holiday! Use images 1 and 2 as inspiration to dress up as late-Victorians. That means a hat for everyone, aprons for the girls, jackets for the boys and a scarf or muffler in case it gets chilly on our day out. In fact, in Victorian times, people tended to wear exactly the same clothes at the beach that they would wear everyday in town!
Sound effects
Play the Victorian streets sound file to imagine life in a crowded town or city 130 years ago. We definitely need a day away from all that!
Background
Further information:
The Victorian era saw a huge rise in the population of Britain – from around 14 million in the 1830s to 32 million at the time of Queen Victoria’s death in 1901. In that period, more and more people moved from living in rural to urban areas. By the beginning of the 20th century, three-quarters of the population lived in towns and cities.
Travelling outside one’s local area just wasn’t possible for the vast majority of the population owing to lack of free time, disposable income and practical transport options. However, this was to change with the coming of the railways in the second half of the 19th century. This, combined with improved working conditions for many people, meant that an escape from the city for a day trip to the seaside could become a reality…and the start of a much-loved British tradition.
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Suggested inquiry questions: What would it be like to step back in time to the Victorian era?
Potential activities: Follow the suggested activities or create your own imaginative sensory learning.
Part One – Entering the Archives
Going back in time
Part Four – On the beach
Where do we want to sit on the beach? What activities can we do while we’re here?