Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see:

• Victorians (Primary History article, 2014)
• Scheme of work: Sarah Forbes Bonetta
• Scheme of work: Brunel

What was life like for workhouse children in the early nineteenth century?

The aims of the lesson were for children to:

• gain an understanding of conditions in early nineteenth century mills
• be able to read and interpret difficult and challenging texts
• understand and use language appropriate to a committee of inquiry
• pursue an historical enquiry, raising questions and using original sources.

Wanting to incorporate ICT and to extend a relatively able group within the year 6 class, I chose the SPARTACUS website, which provides a very good child labour simulation. Scroll down the home page to Child Labour 1750-1900.

The children explored the resource material on the site, and followed hyperlinks to find information about children in the Victorian textile factory.

(These resources are attached below)

Related lessons on this site Down the mine Children in slate mining Chimney sweep interview The more privileged were not much better off - see Henry at boarding-school Teaching methods Reading documents Speaking and listening Chidren writing Story-telling Sites and the environment Learning about Time Background information for teachers Teaching Victorian Britain