In their Humanities lesson, Upper II learnt about the Victorian times, and in particular the Victorian Inventions. The students then had to create a ‘Dragons’ Den’ pitch for an invention, as if they had come up with the idea themselves. 

The inventions included: 

• Victorian toilet 
• Dynamite 
• Ear trumpet 
• Gramophone 
• Vacuum cleaner 
• Typewriter 
• The camera

 I enjoyed finding out about the structure of the gramophone and working with my team to make a script and also make posters. My favourite part was drawing and colouring the gramophone with my team. 

The invention I would invest in is the camera because I think it is very useful if you want to keep a record of memories or take pictures of amazing things you might see. It was interesting to find out lots of facts about different inventions in the Victorian times. – Serena

 I really liked doing the Dragons’ Den activity and I really enjoyed finding out about the origin of dynamite. I would have invested in the camera because their speech was funny and it really persuaded you to buy a camera. – Alma

 I enjoyed making the presentation. I would have invested in the flushing toilet because it made the world a cleaner place. – Verity

 I enjoyed the Dragons’ Den activity a lot. Talking to the class and being filmed is a little nerve racking. I most enjoyed showing my drawing of the gramophone. The feeling of being proud of something you made with your own hands. I invested in the camera because the group put in a lot of effort and humour when presenting their ideas. They spoke clearly and strongly. – Shreeya

My favourite bit was listening to other people’s presentations because I liked magpie-ing their amazing ideas and saying to myself that next time I can do that too. If I were a dragon I would have invested in the Camera or Gramophone because the camera presentation had lots of humour such as saying fromage instead of cheese. I also would have invested in the gramophone because they performed it exactly how a Dragons’ Den audition should be, they had a plan and they did it very well and clearly. – Ipek