Year 6 at Woolwich went to the old operating theatre in London Bridge. The children had the opportunity to sit in the original Victorian operating theatre (the women’s section), where real surgeries once took place. A museum guide explained the surgical procedures of the time, and pupils were invited to come up and lie on the operating table while learning what would have happened to a patient. They discovered that Victorians had no understanding of germs, sterilisation, or anaesthesia, and discussed what this meant and how painful and frightening surgery would have been. Afterward, the children explored the rest of the museum, examining old remedies and medical equipment, and even made their own sweet-smelling spice bags to ward off “bad miasma” to take home.

Miss Yasin