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Castledawson Primary School

The Village Pump

9th Feb 2023

Room 1 enjoyed a walk to the village pump today. The children used their investigative skills to examine a picture of Main Street from long ago and were able to comment on many of the difference between now and then.  Examining the picture they quickly recognised the church and realised that the school hadn’t been built when this was taken. They identified that there were no cars, that the road surface was different, that nearby houses looked different and that there were no street lights. As we walked through the village we stopped to observe some of the older houses looking at the number of chimney pots, the shape of the doors and windows and thought about what it would be like to live there long ago.

On our walk we took an empty metal bucket to fill at the pump. The children knew that at school and in our home we only have to turn on the tap to get water.  Carrying the bucket made us think of the hard  work people did in the past for what we take for granted. At the pump we took turns to try to move the wheel to fill the bucket. The children recognised that the pump wasn’t working  as we all have our own taps. They were reminded that in other parts of the world  some children have a daily chore to fetch water for drinking,cooking, washing and cleaning.