*New* Dodging the Law: the case of the Artful Dodger

Visit the Charles Dickens Museum and the National Justice Museum team at the Royal Courts of Justice for an immersive, cross-site study day. Students will learn all about Victorian life, crime and punishment, and enact a mock trial in a real, working courtroom. Teachers will also leave with a post-visit resource where students will debate the future of capital punishment in the Victorian era.

Through the day, the life and crimes of the Artful Dodger (aka Jack Dawson) will be brought to life as students explore Dickens’s former home and put Dodger on trial for pick pocketing. With Dawson accused of stealing a silver snuffbox, students will need to use the historical information and the evidence provided at trial to establish the fate of the Artful Dodger. From seeing Marshalsea prison’s grille and touching objects from the past to roleplaying in a real court room, students will be immersed in the Victorian judicial system and develop a deeper understanding of why the poor so often turned to petty crimes like theft to survive.

The cross-site visit runs from 10.00am – 15.00pm. Groups will need to organise their own travel between the two venues. Venues are approximately a 20-minute walk apart. 

Enquire for further details education@dickensmuseum.com 

Costs:

£370 for 20 pupils or less

£500 for 30 pupils (a class)

£60 discount applies if booking a full class of 30 when your school has at least 19% FSM pupils 

Curriculum Links:

KS3 History - 

The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:  

• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses