To help us explore the similarities and differences between schools from the past and our school today, Year 1 and Year 2 hopped into a time machine and travelled all the way back to 1880, the year the Education Act was passed.
During our visit to the Victorian era, we discovered what life was like for schoolchildren over 140 years ago — including the strict rules they had to follow and how their lessons were taught.

The children even took part in Victorian-style drills instead of our usual PE lessons, played traditional Victorian playground games, and created beautiful William Morris–inspired wallpaper using real flowers!

Here are some of the children’s favourite parts of the day:

• “My favourite part was learning about the rules and punishment, but I am glad that schools in the present are not like Victorian schools!” — Zoe, Year 1
• “I loved painting my own wallpaper because I got to use flowers to help me!” — Catherine, Year 1
• “The Victorian games were so much fun; I loved rolling the hoops!” — Wyatt, Year 2
• “I loved learning about the rules, but I do not want the same rules in the present because we are allowed to make mistakes but Victorian children were not!” — Toby, Year 2

The children had a wonderful experience stepping into the past — and came away feeling very grateful for modern-day school life!