Lesson B2: We call it the old hospital...
By Sue Carter and Gail Brown, Redhills Primary
Teacher, Mrs Brown explains: "The old hospital near school is now converted into flats. Many pupils pass it every day, and some even live there. Until we looked more closely at our local area we had no idea that the building is an original Victorian workhouse. It's a real treasure right on our doorstep."
Victorian floor plans for the proposed new hospital at the St Thomas workhouse
Orignal document in the care of Devon Record Office
Activity:
Using the interactive modern aerial view - click on the pink map icon above - discuss how the site is used today. Once you've opened the map, use the controls (top left of image) to zoom in and out, and fly north, south, west and east.
Do any of the children live in any of the buildings now converted into flats? Where? What is it like? Children might like to bring in photographs of the inside of their homes to share. Discuss the size and shape of the rooms and how they are currently used.
Task: Children to draw a plan of their home. Objective - to get the idea of how spaces in a home setting are different from a big institution like a boarding school or hospital. Identify the spaces we need to eat, play, chat together, wash, do chores, relax etc and how they are connected.
If you have children in your class who live in less typical home settings e.g. in care, B&B, as travellers, in co-housing, you could compare several different ways of organising and using space. You could include outside spaces and public facilities like the laundrette too.
Click on any of the plans above to see examples of plans drawn by Year 3 children