It was with great excitement that day arrived for our visit to
Ferrymead. We have spent a number of weeks investigating what schools were like
100 to 150 years ago.
This is particularly special as our school has recently
celebrated its 151st birthday, and of course the complete rebuild finished at the same time.
The trip over to Ferrymead was exciting as we could see lots
of things from the bus that we normally don’t when traveling by car.
When we arrived we were greeted by our guide:
One of the first things to do was to transform from 21st century children to late 19th century children:
The Boys wore knickerbockers, shirts and caps.
The girls wore dresses and aprons, They also wore bonnets.
Our teachers and helpers found it very hard to identify us when we were wearing hats!
We then took part in four experiences:
Applying to be an apprentice in a shop:
Mr. Hill interviewed us and we had to fill out customer's orders:
We went to school with Mrs. Grey as our teacher, she was very strict.
The classroom was very different to Ahuriri.
We used slate pencils and boards for writing.
We visited a home and learned how to keep it clean.
We learned how to wash, dry and iron clothes.
We scrubbed the table, swept the floors, cleaned the carpets,
washed dishes and made beds. Phew! Must be time for lunch after all that hard
work!
We were told all about games that children used to play, and
then had a go ourselves.
We finished the visit with a tram ride.
Thank you so much to all parents who came and helped us, and
to the staff at Ferrymead. We had a wonderful day!
