Year One had a fantastic time at Beamish today and luckily, the weather was gloriously sunny.
The children were thrilled to be going on a coach and after an immensely exciting bus journey, we arrived at Beamish. We tried to visit as many places at Beamish as possible. Firstly the children visited the farm, saw lots of farm animals and looked around the farmhouse.
We also visited the Victorian school room. It was so different to our school. The children had to line up in a separate line for boys and girls and we had to call the teacher “Ma’am” at all times. We went inside the classroom and sat on wooden benches. The children completed activities in reading, writing and arithmetic. They began by working out some maths stories and writing some sounds on their slates with chalk. Then the children read words from picture cards to the teacher. We even had a go at reciting All things Bright and Beautiful. After this, the children had a go at sketching Noah’s Ark. The teacher was very strict and insisted that everyone should work in silence. Some of us also had the chance to play with the hoops and sticks on the playground.
One of our activities was to clean a pit cottage. We met a lady who lived there and she told us all about how hard she works to keep her cottage looking immaculate. Did you know that she washes her clothes in a tub with a poss stick and grates in carbolic soap for washing powder? Victorian’s even used a chamber pot under their bed if they needed to go to the toilet in the night. All the children were so helpful and they helped to do the ironing, polish boots, sweep the floor, make the bed and tidy up all of the toys. Phew! They were exhausted afterwards.
We even had time to visit the Victorian town. We visited the chemist, garage, the co-operative, the sweet shop and the bakery.
By the end of the day we were all exhausted but we had so much fun! It was just wonderful to see the smiles and hear laughing and chatter all day. The children were respectful and polite at all times and brilliantly behaved. They represented the school so well with members of the public around. Thanks also to the parent helpers who supported on the day.
