St James’ Church of England First School
Park Lane
Alderholt
Hampshire
SP6 3AJ
Tel: (01425) 653063
Fax: (01425) 655373
e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.alderholt.dorset.sch.uk
Acting Headteacher: Miss Jo Hudson
Assistant Headteacher: Mrs Kathryn Cousins
24 February 2017
Dear Parents
We are delighted to be writing to you with a fantastic opportunity that has been offered to our Year 3
and 4 children. Both Key Stage Two classes have been invited to go to Sixpenny Handley First School on
Monday 13th March to take part in a ‘Play-in-a-day’ workshop as part of History Enrichment Month. This
will be led by members of the ‘Tree-House Theatre Company’ and will have the theme of ‘The Tudor
Dynasty’. It promises to be a very exciting day where the children will take part in a series of workshops,
culminating in an afternoon performance. All children will have a part to play in putting on the show. We
regret that there is not the facility to invite parents to attend this performance but we will take lots of
pictures for the school’s Facebook page.
For the children to feel completely ‘in role’ as a person from Tudor times during their performance, we
are asking if you could provide a costume for your child to come in. For costume ideas please look at
the document on the reverse of this letter from the Tree-House Theatre Company.
The trip will take part entirely during school time, so you will only need to drop off and pick up your child
from school at normal times. Coach transport is being provided to and from Sixpenny Handley and both
classes will be accompanied by members of staff from St James’ at all times.
Please could you ensure that your child brings a packed lunch and drink with them to school on that
day. If you have ordered a hot meal for the day we will organise for a packed lunch to be given to your
child.
We are also pleased to be able to inform you that this trip is being entirely funded by The Heath
Academy Trust and is being offered to all children absolutely FREE!
Please fill in the attached permission slip giving consent for your child to take part in this event and
return it to school by Monday 6th March at the latest.
If you have any queries, please feel free to speak to either one of us.
Many thanks
Yours sincerely
Mrs Almond and Mr Spinks
Part of The Heath Academy Trust
St Ives Primary School, Sandy Lane, St Ives, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 2LE
Tel: 01425 475478
Company Registration No: 09809895
Dressing like a Tudor
For the wealthy, fashion suddenly took off in Tudor times, and the latest trends and
styles changed constantly, just like today. Clothes were beautiful and elaborately
decorated with gold thread and jewels, and had lots of layers and fastenings, which
made them very complicated to wear. Wealthy people often needed a servant to help
them dress. Children wore miniature versions of their parent’s clothes.
Middle-class people, like tradesmen, would wear plainer versions of the latest
fashions worn by the rich. Poor people wore very simple clothes made from wool or
coarse cloth, which were endlessly patched and mended at home. Sometimes poor
people didn’t even have a change of clothes. Fashions were set by the rich, and copied
by the poor as well as they could.
Clothes were the outward sign of your position in Tudor society and there were strict
laws governing what you could and couldn’t wear, depending on how rich you were.
Most of the rules were about what type of cloth your clothes could be made from,
rather than the style. Servant and labourers who broke the rules were put in the
stocks for 3 days!
Men and boys clothes
Wealthy Tudor men usually wore breeches (knee-length trousers), with knee-length
stockings. As elastic hadn’t been invented, they used garters – a decorative ribbon with
tassels – to hold up their stockings. Under their embroidered waistcoats (called doublets),
they would wear linen shirts, with lacy cuffs. During Henry VIII’s reign, men like to wear flat
hats decorated with feathers. Ruffs were very fashionable in Elizabethan times.
Boys wore virtually the same clothes as adults, though school children would often
wear a robe over everything.
Poor Tudor men wore loose wool trousers and a loose tunic, which would come down to
just above their knees.
Women and girls clothes
Like boys, girl’s clothes were just mini versions of adult clothes. Wealthy women wore
long dresses made of heavy velvets or brocades, with wide graceful sleeves, though
more simply embroidered than men’s clothes. Women sometimes wore big hoops
called farthingales under their skirts, but if you didn’t have a farthingale, you could
wear lots of petticoats instead. They wore corsets under their clothes, and laced
them up tightly to make their waists look small. At the beginning of the Tudor era,
women often wore hats or hoods. By the time of Elizabeth, women wore jewels in
their hair instead, and wore elaborate ruffs.
Poor Tudor women wore long woollen dresses that came down to their ankles. Over
this they would usually wear an apron, and a simple cloth bonnet.