Over the last term Classes 10 and 11 have been studying the Industrial Revolution and its effect on both the town of Hayle and also the County of Cornwall.
This has involved researching all aspects of the revolution, from the mass production of cotton to the harnessing of steam power. However, it was the quality of life for children in the period that really hit home. Comparing their lives to those of the children living and working in the 1800’s allowed the Year 5 children to see how lucky they are.
The research the children did allowed them to collate a fact file in which they chose to write about either the introduction of steam, the mass production of cotton, the development of transport and the increased attention to workers rights.
The links to Cornwall, and the town of Hayle itself, are plenty with the foundries of Copperhouse and of the Harvey family and the harbour being used to bring coal in and out of the duchy to power the host of steam engines used within the mining industry. We used this in Class 10 and 11 as inspiration for our silhouette art work.
The topic culminated with a trip to the National Trust property, East Pool Mine. On this trip the children had the opportunity to explore the site whilst undertaking various activities. Such as dressing up as miners and balmaidens, the making of felt pasties and a tin trail treasure hunt. But by far the fan favourite for the day was the working steam engine. A fully restored working engine is housed in one of the engine houses at East Pool Mine and what better way to see the effect of steam than to see an engine build here in Cornwall powered by one of Richard Trevithick’s boilers.
Pupil comments:
Meghan- I really enjoyed learning about steam and how it changed the way we live, it was great how we got to see the engine working.
Ines- I enjoyed going to east pool mine and dressing up as a balmaiden and seeing how they lived.
Jake- I like walking through the flu tunnel and looking up to the top of the chimney. It was 180 feet tall!
Trystan- It was fun making our silhouette pictures because we had to wash the red sky and build our setting.
