This week, we have had history come to life! As a special treat to finish the end of our topic, Florence Nightingale came to our school. It felt like we were actually in the Crimean War helping Florence Nightingale or being one of the soldiers.
We got a chance to dress up and it was so much fun. We could be Florence Nightingale, one of the nurses who helped her or we could have been one of the soldiers.
The lady brought lots of different artefacts with her so we had the opportunity to handle real-life objects like they would have had in 1854. There was even a severed hand in there too!
We had learnt that the hospitals in Scutari were disgusting. They were full of flea-ridden rats, the food was often mouldy, the water was infected and the injured soldiers often had to sleep on the floor as there were no beds left for them to rest on.
When Florence and her nurses came, she began to change all of this. Florence was using her own money to look after the soldiers and they started to get better. We have learnt that she had a nickname. The soldiers used to call her ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ because during the night, Florence would go and check up on the soldiers to make sure that they were okay with a small lamp.
Everyone had so much fun, teachers included! A massive thank you to Florence for coming to visit us.
What you can do to support your child’s learning at home:
- Ask your child if they can recall any of the facts that have learnt about Florence Nightingale.
- Click here to play a game and learn more about Florence.
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