What’s happening in Year 4 – Week 4

This week in Year 4, we have been acting out that it was like to be a Victorian child living in a workhouse. At the beginning of the History lesson, we found out, when a father in the working class lost his job, his whole family would we forced to move into the working class and move out their family home, because they couldn’t afford it anymore. Many
discovered how unpleasant and overcrowded it was. Once the family moved into the workhouse, the family would be separated. The mother would only be allowed to stay with her children if they were very young, but once they reached 6, they would be separated again. To get a better understanding of what it would be like for children living in workhouses, we acted out their day-to-day routine. The girls were taught to stay inside the workhouse and do more domestic chores, whereas the boys would be working in the field from early on in the day. However, boys and girls could work in mines since they were narrow spaces and only children could fit in.