No internet for a while, digiboards and tables and chairs today at De Bron child center in Nijensleek. Instead, chalkboards, old school desks and traditional costumes. The school went back in time today to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
“Good morning Miss Oosterhuis”, the students greet obediently, standing next to their desks. “Good morning, class,” the teacher replies. “You may sit down and take your slate. We will immediately start with a dictation. The first word you may write down is the brig.”
Today it is exactly one hundred years ago that De Bron child center in Nijensleek was founded. Then the school had another name: School with Den Bible. To celebrate that anniversary, the school recreated a teaching day from a century ago.
And that teaching looked very different at the time. Especially for today, the school’s play and gym room has been transformed into a classroom from 1923. Children sit in old school desks, write with chalk on slates and wear old costumes.
The school collected these items with the help of the Colony School in Frederiksoord, part of the outdoor museum of the Colonies of Benevolence. “We borrowed a few benches from them. And colleagues still had benches at home,” explains Irna Oosterhuis, director of De Bron. Today she takes on the role of a strict teacher from 1923.
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