We had a wonderful day, as we stepped back to Victorian times! We met Florence Nightingale who shared with us her letter writing before explaining that she needed help for the injured soldiers in The Crimean War. The children loved visiting different workshops to make candle holders for the nurses, pill boxes for the soldiers, medals, watercolour cards, and dress up dolls to sell to buy blankets, etc. for Scutari Hospital. The children filled in application forms to become nurses, soldiers, laundry workers, gardeners and cooks.

After break, we became historian detectives! We explored what was in the lost property suitcases. The artefacts gave us clues as to who it belonged to. Then we looked at their letters to complete our investigations. The new luggage labels meant that they went back to the correct people.

In the afternoon, we travelled to The Crimea and helped to set up Scutari Hospital. We were soldiers, gardeners, nurses, doctors, cooks, laundry workers. We helped to keep the hospital clean, grew vegetables, cooked food, washed bandages and looked after injured soldiers. Miss Nightingale showed us some artefacts. We now know that an injured person can use a cup with a spout and how irons were heated in Victorian times. Finally, Miss Nightingale explained her life story in chronological order. Florence Nightingale was an amazing historical character. It was a great start to our new topic!

Claire Collinge