Ragged schools were an early experiment in public education: they provided tuition, food and clothes for destitute children. This one was the largest in London, and Dr Barnardo himself taught here. The Ragged School Museum is now a local museum of the East End which examines the experiences of the children who attended the school. As well as a complete mock-up of a ragged classroom, the museum also features an Edwardian kitchen equipped with utensils for visitors to handle. On the first Sunday of every month, visitors can attend a Victorian lesson reenactment.
A new permanent exhibition, 'Ragged Children, Manded Lives', opened in October 2015, revealing the experience of a nineteenth-century East London childhood with images, objects and materials.