On 12th May, Year 2 had a visit from the London Fire Brigade. We have been studying the Great Fire of London in History. The fire started at the baker’s shop on 2 nd September 1666, all the houses were very close together in those days, with many made of wood so the fire spread very easily. It was also a very windy day, so the wind blew the fire. There was no fire service back in 1666. The fire burned for 5 days!

We wanted to understand why cities are safer from great fires today and we knew a visit from the local fire brigade would help us to learn why. We prepared lots of questions for them in advance, and they managed to answer all of them!

There was no protective clothing to fight fires in 1666. These days, all firemen wear fire suits that don’t burn (we learnt a new expression ‘fire retardant’). They also wear helmets with a protective screen to cover their face. We learnt that they also wear oxygen masks so they can breathe properly when fighting fires.

Fires are easier to fight these days, the equipment is more advanced as we learnt. They still use ‘house hooks’ sometimes, and buckets too. Both these were used in 1666 to fight the Great Fire of London. They have long hoses which they can roll out to where the fire is. They also have ladders so they can get high up to fight fires.

We learnt that lots of fires are avoidable these days. We were told to tell our mums and dads that they need to check the house smoke alarms once a week! We now have a getter idea why our cities are much safer today than they were in 1666.

Year 2 stepped back in time when they went to the Florence Nightingale Museum at St. Thomas’ hospital on 13 th February 2008. They were greeted by Florence Nightingale’s former maid, they not only learnt lots about Florence, but also about life in Victorian times too. The children really enjoyed learning about the Lady with the lamp. There was also time for some dressing up too.