National Coal Mining Museum

Lesson: History

Class: Year 3 Year: 2018 - 2019

Year 3 had an amazingly unique time at National Coal Mining Museum and experienced first-hand the smells and sights of a real coal mine. The children were greeted by real life coal miners, Uncle Bob and Steve, who greeted them with the news that it was their first day working at pit. They gave the children their tally tags and guided them to the original locker-room to prepare for the long day ahead. The children dressed like real miners, learned all about the importance of everyone’s roles and prepared for working down the pit. The children then put their hard hats and miners lamps on to prepare for the long journey down into the pit underground. They travelled 140 metres underground via the original mine shaft lift. The children could not believe actual size and length of the tunnels below the ground. It really hit home that they themselves would have been expected to work down the pit from the age of 5 if they were alive during the Victorian era or before. The marvellous miner taught the children how mining had evolved over the years while giving first hand experiences of listening and seeing the machinery in use. The children could not believe how loud it was and really appreciated the invention of ear defenders. They dug for their own coal and learnt the difference between rock and coal. The miner inspired the children to become engineers to solve a typical mining problem. They had to work as a team to build a make shift scaffold to prevent the mining tunnel from caving in. They learnt the importance of wedges to make a tight, strong structure. The day was wonderfully intriguing from start to finish and provided our children with invaluable, first-hand experience of what it must have been like mining throughout the decades and centuries. We cannot wait to build on our experiences to totally master and immerse ourselves in our local mining heritage back in school.

The day ended with fun on the park, obviously!