Choo choo – full steam ahead for Prep 1!
On Wednesday 15th November, Prep 1 visited the Steam Museum in Swindon. The children were all very excited to learn more about George Stephenson and the invention of the steam engine!
The day started with a workshop, where we learnt about the engineer George Stephenson and his son, Robert. We heard all about Brunel and how he built his railway from Bristol to London, and the workers who made all this work possible. There was lots of dressing up and acting as we stepped into these roles! At the end of the workshop we all had a chance to be engineers; where we were asked to take apart replica wooden trains and then put all the pieces back together again, remembering where each individual part had come from. The children worked hard as part of a team to reconstruct the famous steam engines.
In the afternoon, the children had a chance to explore the rest of the museum, and complete activities based around the North Star locomotive, built in 1937. We were able to go into a real train carriage and see what Queen Victoria’s private carriage would have looked like. We even had a go at working some of the signalling levers!
After a quick stop in the shop to practise our Maths skills when adding up totals and thinking about change, it was time to come home. We all had a wonderful day out and learnt a lot more about steam engines and the men behind them.
