back in time.

I really enjoyed it. I thought they were a lovely lot of children who really entered into the spirit of it. Interesting the way the powers that be decided girls weren't to do maths and science. I've got my grandmother's science exercise book from the end of the 19th century but my mother, who was at school in the 20s didn't do any science at all.

I love watching those programmes. Takes me back.

Steedman's EE powders if I was being " peevish ?" Ghastly !

I was given sulphur powder and treacle, on a teaspoon, for heatspots.

I used to do a Victorian day with my Primary School pupils, we all dressed appropriately and Girls and Boys were seperated and lined up next to each other. The bit they liked best was the discipline bit when they were not allowed to talk and had to sit up straight, put their hand up, stand up to answer and be polite. They liked it so much that when I announced we were coming out of role at lunchtime they all begged to do it again in the afternoon!
Even when I was at my co-ed secondary girls were not allowed to sit next to boys, we had to sit at different sides of the classroom.

I think having the non-white pupils there was part of the point. They're not just actors in a re-enactment, they're participants discovering what education was like in the past. It was quite sobering for all of them to realise how much racism was built into the curriculum, and they were all very much aware that the school population at that time was raciallly very different from today's.

It wasn’t supposed to be an exact picture of what it was like then ( would that be possible outside of a proper drama?) but to give today’s children an insight into what it was like for some- the black/ mixed race kids themselves said they wouldn’t have been there in the 19th century. I don’t think they could have given a lesson on the Empire like “the aborigines were savages” without some sort of context and comment. The Young Suffragettes meeting wasn’t a school lesson but supposed to be a sort of after school activity that some would have attended, like the Band of Hope. Having said that, I agree some of the details didn’t ring true,

Just saw a repeat. They couldn’t have stuck strictly to the year they were in - just gave a taste. As we only saw a few minutes of each class it is possible that the children were given the contect of the Empire etc. (Assuming the teachers themselves were aware) As we saw, the teacher could not continue with insisting on the left handed boy having his hsnd tied. I assume it was meant to illustrate some of the differences and I hope everyone who has any influence over education today was watching and taking note - some good points emerged eg about the school meals, and the needlework lesson being ‘mindful’, and especially at the end when some boys admitted that it was easier to learn without girls in the class.

I've loved all of the series except the one where they used a different family that didn't really enter into the spirit of the thing. If the children didn't react in a modern way it would be a different kind of programme, though; more of a documentary.

I have liked the other back in time series eg the factory.
Interesting to see what was taught, but it was spoiled by the fact that the children were not expected to behave in the same way as children of that era would. Their calling out and questioning the teachers actions would not have been allowed, neither would their reactions to the lunch.
The teachers also let the programme down, way too informal for the period.
Will I watch the rest - not sure.
Bit depressing to see BBC & Commodore computers on the trailers, I remember using these to teach computer studies back in the 80s when they were hi -tech, doesn't seem that long ago!

It was a school in Coventry learning about schools of the past. Coventry is a very multicultural place, so the pupils of today going back in time are inevitably multicultural. I agree it looked wrong for the date, but they could hardly tell non-white children they couldn’t take part in the programme, could they?

I wasn’t impressed by the teachers.

We switched off as it was all so BBC PC. More brown than white students - yeah that would really have happened in the 19th century - horror all round at the British Empire without explaining history, caricature headmaster and right on female teacher who ignored any sense of context. Plus all the gripes about caps, names etc. Depressing....

I think a spoonful of Virol would go down well now and help to clear my cold.

Agree about the hats and caps. It would have been considered very bad manners for a man or boy to wear a hat indoors.

The subject was nominally Victorian schools, but in fact much of it was about Edwardian schools, and up to the start of the First World War. I’m sure they would not have been taught about the suffragettes and certainly not about ju-jitsu. That was for the viewers’ benefit. There were teachers in my family going back to these times, so I have some knowledge.

I thought it was a very muddled programme with no clear plan, but interesting nevertheless.

Would they have been taught about the suffragettes at that time? While it was all happening?

I had a spoonful of malt at school.

Yes I agree trisher I was in grammar school in the 50s All the boys wore caps, even the 6th formers. But never indoors. Th boys were all addressed by their surnames, whilst Christian names were used for girls.
The teachers all wore gowns everyday, and their mortar boards and capes on speech day. No man teacher ever wore a hat indoors

I watched and shouted at the screen when the boys (and the teacher) wore their caps in school. Even when I was their age it wasn't allowed! Men always took off their hats when they were inside.

They're going to take it through the 20th century. Many of us will be watching keenly to see if they get it right when they get to the 1950s and 60s.

Just watching on catch up now. As a teacher scary at some of the things they had to teach. I wouldn’t like brimstone and treacle ?