Bancrofts Insight Newsletter Autumn 2019 Final

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P R E P S C H OO L
2 1
Learn to Ride
Mrs Lisa Life
Nuha Rahman 1SS
The Ragged School
During September some very resilient Prep children have
conquered fears and difficulties and have mastered how to
ride a bike.
The courses were spread over a weekend and the children
cycled in small groups with some very focussed teaching.The
instructors from Cycle Confident were kind and patient and
certainly wove some magic. In addition to learning this valuable
life skill, these 32 children had a lot of fun and took great pride in
their achievements. We hope to be able to offer this Learn 2 Ride
opportunity again alongside our Bikeability 1 and 2 courses for
more confident cyclists which will happen in the spring.
On Friday 20 September, the Prep 1s visited the Ragged School
in Mile End. It was founded by Dr Barnardo. Some parents came
along with Mrs Strong, Mrs Yelverton and Mr Bleasdale.
Our first activity was in a Victorian kitchen! It looked completely
different to our kitchens nowadays. It had quite strange looking
items and they used fire as a microwave because they didn’t
have any electricity. Also, if someone couldn’t afford a house,
they would live in their kitchen.They would have slept on the
floor and they did not have a toilet so they had to do their
business in a little pot! It was a bit disgusting but that was the
Victorian life. A kind lady called Katie explained about the
kitchen and split us into four groups. In the groups she gave us
items and we had to investigate and find out what they were.
When we found out what they were, I was so surprised!
The second activity was great fun, but went into a
Victorian classroom. Once we entered the room, we could not
smile or say a single sat down very quietly, trying not
to laugh.There was a teacher called Miss Perkins. She was super
strict and she shouted at everyone, even if they fiddled or even
whispered! She always had an angry face.There were monitors
and I was one of them.They handed out slates, pencil and a
piece of cloth to rub out our wrote the alphabet
in a very unusual font called Copperplate. It was very curly! It
was quite hard to copy the writing but we got the hang of it.
After this, we learnt the value of money.There were farthings,
pennies and shillings.Then we had to repeat some proverbs.
Last but not least, we learnt about phases of the moon.
When the lesson ended, the teacher told us her real name
was Sally. Everyone noticed her bottom was a bit big but it
actually wasn’t. She was wearing a bustle which was
fashionable in Victorian times.
The trip overall was phenomenal! It was so amazing to
experience the life of a Victorian are so lucky now
that we have kind teachers who don’t hit us! An interesting
fact I learnt was that if you fiddled, the teacher would tie
your hands behind
your back. Also, if you
were a bit stupid and
not smart at all, you
would sit at the front
with a ‘dunce’s hat’! My
highlight was when we
went in the classroom
because I liked writing
on the slate in the
unusual font.