18/11/2008 - A festive step back in time for Cumbrian school children

Primary school children from across Cumbria will be experiencing a very merry Victorian Christmas at Cumbria Outdoors this festive season as they step back in time for a three day residential course.

From this week  pupils from six schools will be turning up at Cumbria Outdoors Fellside Centre near Caldbeck where a very warm welcome awaits them.

Imagine the luxury of a comfortable drawing room with its roaring fire and a sparkling Christmas tree – with the added attraction of being waited on hand and foot by servants!  

Then imagine the daily grind of a servants’ lot, waiting at the gentry’s tables, up to their elbows in washing up and eating a very different, plain fare in the servants’ hall.

The children visiting the Fellside Centre will get an opportunity to play both servants and gentry, with a Victorian housekeeper on hand at all times to put them through their paces.

The Victorian experience will be as real as possible, with everyone – including staff – dressed in the traditional clothes of the period.

Other experiences for the children include meeting a Victorian miner for an exciting underground experience followed by a miners’ lunch of Cornish pasties, and a chance to make authentic Christmas decorations and dress the tree.

The three day programme is a truly Victorian Experience, where pupils get to feel like they have stepped back in time.  The residential course celebrates the best of ‘experiential’ learning, which is tailored to follow the national curriculum through bringing the Victorian period back to life

Andy Hunter, Head of Centre at Cumbria Outdoors, which is part of Learning Support Services within the county council’s Children’s Services, said:

“Because this is a residential experience, the children benefit from a first hand account of Victorian living from the moment they get up in the morning right up until their bedtime – really bringing the period to life in a more exciting way than just sitting in the classroom.”

County councillor Anne Burns is Cabinet member for Children’s Services. She said:

“This really is a history lesson with a difference. It's such a stimulating way of  learning.
The youngsters should have a great time while experiencing both the positive and harsh aspects of Victorian life." 

In November 2006 the Government launched the ‘Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto’, which sets out specific measures to help schools widen access to high quality education experiences for every young person and making learning outside the classroom an integral part of school life.  

Cumbria Outdoors signed a ‘pledge’ to support the manifesto and this Victorian residential course is just one of the ways they help children to learn outside the classroom.

ENDS

Notes

Cumbria Outdoors at the Fellside Centre, near Caldbeck, the following schools will be experiencing a Victorian Christmas on the following days.   (Please call Lesley Hill on 017687 72816 for more info.) 
We will then make arrangements with the school concerned.

19/21st Nov                         St Bees School
24/26th Nov  St Beghs School, Whitehaven
26/28th Nov  St Beghs School, Whitehaven
1/3rd Dec                        Ireleth St Peter's School, Askham
3/5th Dec                        St James School, Barrow
8/10th Dec                        Greystoke School
10/12th Dec   Milnethorpe School

Media enquiries to Media Officer Paul Bell on 01228 226337.