Gressenhall Farm and Workshouse Museum

Hands-on experience for Year 5 pupils

Last week, Year 5 children got dressed in their Victorian costumes for a hands-on experience at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Museum. Th students took part in an active learning day to discover what life was like for children in the Victorian countryside. 

The amazing sessions were facilitated by experienced museum educators to broaden the children’s knowledge and understanding of life in Victorian Norfolk whilst developing their communication, enquiry and observation skills. 

The carousel of activities included:

Mr Bradfield, the stern Workhouse Master, who tasked the children in a Victorian school lesson in their 1860’s school room.

Martha Middleton, a dismal workhouse inmate, who took the children on a tour of the workhouse and explored the conditions of the Victorian poor in rural Norfolk.

Meeting the head horseman, and got involved with farmwork, 1860’s style.

Mrs Clackett, the frazzled owner of the farm, who cooked with the children in the farmhouse whilst Alice, the insolent washer woman, teachers them how to wash with tubs and dollies the old-fashioned way. 

It was an experience that the children will never forget and we are proud of how the children got into character and enjoyed the learning opportunity.