The Victorians programme is designed to immerse the visiting students in history and to utilise the museum’s Victorian streets, displays and collections of original objects. They will be led by a Costumed Interpreter, and will be made up of four 45 minute sessions consisting of two led sessions, plus one for lunch, and one for free time.
KS1 Victorians
KS1 Victorians is one of a suite of themed Living History sessions designed to immerse students in history amongst Milestones’ historic streets and buildings. Students will actively participate in a Victorian school lesson in the Board School room, and meet a member of the Hampshire-based Kingdon family, who owned and ran an ironmonger’s shop in Basingstoke town centre from 1886.
Victorian Shopping
How did Victorians shop? An interactive session visiting Milestones' Victorian shops and shop frontages to compare Victorian lifestyles and shopping experience with today. Why might you visit an ironmonger? What did a milliner sell? What were the shopkeepers doing to the food that led to the introduction of packaging?
Victorian School lesson
A full Victorian School lesson in our newly created Victorian Board School room, pitched at KS1. The Learning Facilitator will be in role as a Victorian school teacher, and the students will be Victorian students! This involves costume, learning rules, drill and discipline, and lessons on the 3 Rs: writing Victorian style script on slates with slate pencils; arithmetic using abaci; reading by rote.
Session objectives
- To be able to understand the differences between modern schools and Victorian education including discipline, resources and equipment, reading, writing, arithmetic and drill.
- To be able to understand the differences between modern shopping and Victorian shopping including the variety of shops, the nature of items for sale, advertising, loose goods and old (pre-decimalised) money.
- To experience aspects of the Victorian way of life and shopping by participating in a Victorian-style school lesson, and in a range of shopping-themed activities for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Key facts
- There are two 45 minute facilitated sessions: Victorian School and Victorian Shopping.
- Each facilitated session accommodates one class of up to 35 students (plus accompanying adults). A total of three classes can be accommodated on the programme on any one day.
- Where multiple classes are participating in the programme, it will operate as a carousel.
- The third session of 45 minutes is a self-led opportunity to explore the museum further.
KS2 Victorians
KS2 Victorians is one of a suite of themed Living History sessions designed to immerse students in history amongst Milestones’ historic streets and buildings. Students will actively participate in a Victorian school lesson in the Board School room and meet a member of the Hampshire-based Tasker family, through whose ironworks business the ingenuity and philanthropy of the Industrial Revolution is revealed.
Victorian School
The Board School is the location for this fully immersive Victorian school lesson with a Costumed Interpreter in role as a Victorian school teacher.
Ingenuity and Change
This session is an overview and introduction to some aspects of the Industrial Revolution using the Tasker family’s Waterloo Ironworks of Andover business as an example of Victorian industry and philanthropy. The family business is used as a mirror to reflect the ingenuity and problem-solving of Victorian inventors, and the social change of Anna Valley illustrates the larger scale transformations across the country. A mixture of activities and demonstrations enables the students to: identify the principal changes to society during the Victorian period; use historic items and artefacts from the museum’s collections to find evidence of those changes at a specific locality; see the process of casting iron and understand the importance of steam power.
Session objectives
- To be able to understand how aspects of life and work in Britain changed in Victorian times for adults and children by learning about education and industrial developments through a range of immersive activities and demonstrations using the museum’s collections and displays.
- To be able to recognise that the Victorian period was a time of great ingenuity and philanthropy as well as industrialisation.
- To experience what aspects of life and industry during Victorian times were like, including: a Victorian Board School, Taskers iron foundry, how cast iron is made and the importance of steam power.
Key facts
- There are two 45 minute facilitated sessions: Victorian School and Ingenuity and Change.
- Each facilitated session accommodates one class of up to 35 students (plus accompanying adults). A total of three classes can be accommodated on the programme on any one day.
- Where multiple classes are participating in the programme, it will operate as a carousel.
- The third session of 45 minutes is a self-led opportunity to explore the museum further.