Year 5 Investigate the Victorian Thames

To complete their studies on the Victorians this year, Year 5 pupils embarked on a trip to Chiswick where they participated in a course run by the Thames Explorer Trust called 'Investigating the Victorian Thames'. 

The trip allowed pupils to dive deep into the history of the River Thames, uncovering how it was used during the Victorian era. The students spent the day examining primary sources such as photographs, census records, maps, and more, to piece together the past. They even had the chance to trace the lives of six local Victorian families using the 1891 census, gaining insight into their daily lives.

To make the experience even more immersive, each group of pupils dressed up as Victorian families and worked collaboratively to study one of the families in depth. They carefully analuysed various pieces of evidence, piecing togeter the family's story, and in the afternoon, ventured out alone the riverbank to look for remnants of the families' lives in the area.