Pupils learn a lesson about Christmas past
Pupils from Newburgh Primary School in Warwick have been learning lessons about Christmas past from a stern Victorian Schoolmaster, and have also found out what life was like in the kitchen of a wealthy household more than a hundred years ago.
It was all part of a Christmas-themed educational experience organised by Warwickshire County Council’s Heritage Education Service at St John’s House Museum in Warwick to help bring the past to life.
Pupils got into their costumes - pinafores for the girls and sailor collars for the boys – and discovered what it was like to be at school in Victorian times. As well as being taken through the elements of a typical day in 1888, pupils considered what Christmas was like for children in the past.
Once the class was dismissed, children went behind the scenes in an affluent Victorian household and helped the cook to make plum pudding. The youngsters were involved in a range of tasks from pumping the water, to measuring ingredients and stirring the pudding mixture.
The council’s Heritage Education Service has been running the Victorian Christmas project for schools as part of its education programme which uses the collections of Warwickshire Museum Service and the County Record Office to bring history to life.
Cllr Chris Saint, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Housing, said: “Our Heritage Education Service captures the imagination of over 20,000 school children and families a year and we are delighted to be providing memorable educational experiences through the Victorian Christmas project.”