Looking Back- the Victorian Workhouse - Age 8-13

This workbook is packed full of information about the workhouse system in Victorian Great Britain. It is your job to finish the research and complete the various activities.  You will need to ask questions, find information and interpret the evidence you discover.  It includes lots of firsthand source material.

The topics covered include:

• The New Poor Law
• Building design and layout of workhouses
• Staffing the workhouse
• Workhouse orders and rules
• Clothing
• The sorts of jobs workhouse inmates had to do
• Workhouse diet
• Living conditions in the workhouse
• Common diseases in the workhouse
• Poor Law Guardians
• Reasons why people may have gone into the workhouse
• Elizabeth Twining and the Workhouse Visiting Society
• Written accounts of the time about what life was like in the workhouse
• What happened to the workhouses

Each topic is broken down so that it is easy to understand and all the information is presented in an engaging manner. The historical subject matter being taught is written up in the form of imaginary interviews, newspaper articles, letters, diary entries, posters etc. for the children to read. There are lots of questions to answer that will encourage your children to thoughtfully consider the evidence before them. They will be asked to look for clues in texts and pictures, to describe, to explain, to reason, to draw conclusions and to think critically. There are also creative writing exercises to do that will help children write their own narratives about each topic and to recall, select and organise relevant historical knowledge. Where information is missing, your children will be required to make their own enquiries and look up the answers to the questions online and in books.

This pack is designed to help support your children as they explore the Victorian era, deepen their understanding of this historical time period, and ignite their interest in history. It is suitable for children age 8-13.

54 pages.
PDF
This is a digital download.
Please be aware, there are no answers, but all the missing information is provided in bullet points at the end of the pack.