Year 3 have been focussing on the wonderful ‘Oliver Twist’ for Literacy Week. By Monday morning, Year 3 classrooms had been transformed into dark and dull Victorian workhouses with rules chalked onto the walls which had to be followed for the day.
Children were forced to work in silence at all times. Jobs throughout the day included washing filthy dirty clothes with only water and one bar of soap to be shared amongst the workers, oakum picking and bread baking. Supper was served to the workers: gruel, gruel and more gruel made by the children in the afternoon (served with a small bread roll). The children wrote in their diary at the end of the day.
Lexie: “Today was hard work. We had to bake bread, do lots of washing AND oakum picking. We had to do it all in silence. Life at the workhouse was exhausting”.
Joe: “First I went to the bakery to make some brown bread to go with the disgusting gruel. I later picked around 88 strands when oakum picking”.
Lily: "I don't like the workhouse because there are so many hard jobs like laundry and oakum picking. Following the rules is also hard because you aren't allowed to talk, you have to eat gruel and if you ask for more food you will get sent to Mr Bumble. You're only allowed to be seen and not heard and if you don't follow the rules then you get a punishment."
Kaiden: "I feel sad because I had to do the washing. We had to obey the rules and we had to stay quiet in class. Also we had to stay in single file in the line. We've had to separate rope into pieces and we weren't allowed to talk in lessons. We are not allowed to be happy."
Kaiden: "I feel sad because I had to do the washing. We had to obey the rules and we had to stay quiet in class. Also we had to stay in single file in the line. We've had to separate rope into pieces and we weren't allowed to talk in lessons. We are not allowed to be happy."
