NOT-SO-DIVERSE VICTORIANS

Hi all.

Only two weeks to go 'til half term and diversity month is in full swing here! I hope that you're all enjoy lots of food and music from around the world wherever you may be... We have been singing about not judging others (the new song will be online for you to sing on diversity day itself on Wednesday 19th October!) and also about celebrating our differences. We have a very diverse range of cultures at my school, and singing is a fantastic way to join together as one to recognise and celebrate both our differences and our similarities.

With that in mind please enjoy our new offering - a song about life as a schoolchild in the Victorian era. It was a time when diversity was not so celebrated. Class, religion and nationality were causes of great division, and even left-handed children had it very tough at school. Not to mention the dyslexic, autistic, SEN, EAL....... So hopefully this song will give you and your children a chance to reflect on how far we have all come since the age of the Victorians.

I look forward to sharing our new diversity song with you next week, take care - and I hope you enjoy singing this week's new song with your children and have fun learning about life at school in the Victorian age. The children at my school have come up with some great actions for this one so send us pics or clips of you performing them and perhaps we can share them on here next week!

Happy singing,

Andy

VICTORIANS

Desks in straight lines, hair in buns Classes of 50 writing out sums, Canes for the naughty no hugs for the sad & for or the lefties - the dunces hat! We're Victorian ask a historian - life for kids was rough We're Victorian very dinosaurian

If you think your school is tough - then pity us Kings and Queens and Latin grammar Hard to say with a st-stammer No P.E. computers or art If you ask me - life was hard

The British Empire covered the earth

But the city streets were covered with dirt

We were hungry and worked too much

Instead of cinemas we had the church