Schools news

44 Schools

Bury Primary School Local history project

Bury CE Primary school, alongside the Friends Of The South Downs Society are involved in a 2 year lottery-funded project to record memories of the South Downs, and to preserve these memories for future generations. The project aims to record these oral histories and preserve them as a video archive so that these precious and culturally important memories are available for both children and adult researchers in the future. The history in books often concentrates on the ‘big figures’ from the past, but this project values the day to day life of ordinary people who have lived and worked in this area of the national park. These kinds of memories are often forgotten after people die or move away and it is really important that we don’t lose these links to our past. We would really like to hear from anyone who has lived in or around the villages of Bury, West Burton, Bignor, Sutton, Madehurst, Slindon, Amberley, Houghton, and the surrounding areas. We are particularly interested in anyone who has worked or enjoyed leisure time on the Downs. We'd like to find out how the area has changed over time and would also really love to see any old photos or documents that you have that relate to the area.

World Book Day St James Coldwaltham

If you were lucky enough to be in the vicinity of St James’ School in Coldwaltham on Thursday 5th March you might have spotted Anne Shirley from Green Gables, Fantastic Mr Fox, Pippi Longstockings, Mr Bump, Harry Potter and Meg March walking up the lane to the school. These characters were attending the school in honour of World Book Day, an annual celebration of reading that is on a mission to give all children a book. The children made a wonderful effort to dress up as their favourite characters and brought with them the corresponding book to share with their schoolmates as part of the mission to share a million stories. Children confidently came to the front of the hall to talk about their most loved stories and, afterwards, offered to read books to their classmates or children in younger years. Many of the children brought with them a book they had purchased or claimed in exchange for a £1 Pupil dressed as Mr Bump Ideally we would love to record some memories from a long time ago as well as more recent history. The children at Bury will be working alongside professional film makers, website designers, local historians and the archivists at the West Sussex record office to discover hidden histories of the South Downs and to see if they can unearth any fascinating oral histories that have already been recorded. If you think that you could spare some time to help in our search for information either at the West Sussex record office in Chichester or at the mass observation archive in Brighton then we’d love to hear from you. We will be able to give you training in how to search the archives and how to record the information that you find. Bury School is not working alone on this project and other schools from Findon, Worthing and Shipley will also be conducting research about their areas of the South Downs. If you, or someone you know, has hidden memories of the South Downs, however small they might be, we would really love to hear from you. Please email Laura Braun events@bury.school or call Bury School on 01798 831502 for more information. Mr Moore, Headteacher www.bury.w-sussex.sch.uk

World Book Day token earlier in the week when the school held a pop-up book shop. The whole day was a great success, the children had a wonderful time reading and sharing books together. Eden ‘I love dressing up because I get to be my favourite character for the day!’ Ben ‘I love getting to hear all of the different adventures that characters go on.’ Pupils dressed as their favourite characters

Jon Gilbert, headteacher. For more information call 01798 872196 or visit www.st-james-coldwaltham.w-sussex.sch.uk.

through the door

St Mary’s Pulborough

Fairtrade St Mary’s CE Primary threw itself into Fairtrade Fortnight this year. We started with a whole school assembly to remind everyone of the aims and work of Fairtrade. The children looked at the supply chain and saw that the supermarket, the ripener, the shipper, the exporter and the farmer all need to be paid for their work. By the time everyone else in the supply chain has been paid, the farmers sometimes do not receive a fair amount of money for their hard work. Fairtrade aims to ensure that the farmers receive a fair price for the vital role that they play. Classes prepared a drama titled ‘Protecting People and Planet’ to explain the threats to the rainforest and show how human actions impact on this environment. They showed how Fairtrade is important and demonstrated how we can protect the rainforests by ensuring that those that live and work there are paid fairly. Some of the children voiced their admiration for the Fairtrade organisation and the work they do. Robyn: “It made me realise how easy our lives were. It isn’t fair that they have to walk such a long way for clean drinking water.” Martina: “They have to work a lot harder for the things we take for granted. It made me realise how lucky we are.”

Schools 45

Ash Wednesday We were delighted that so many parents and governors were able to join us for our Ash Wednesday Eucharist this week, marking the beginning of the season of Lent. The service was led by Fr Paul and Mr Holloway and the intercessions were led by children from Year 6. Mr Rogers and Mr Hancock had taught the children a new hymn, ‘I Need to Know You’ by the Rend Collective, which was well sung and very wellreceived by the visitors who were present. At the end of the service, the children were offered the opportunity to receive an ash cross marked on their forehead as a sign of Lent. Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) Air Ambulance During their recent visit to St Mary's, the Kent Surrey Sussex Air Ambulance personnel invited the children to enter a competition to build or draw a helicopter to raise awareness. Out of the many entries received, Rex E from Year 1 was the winner from St Mary's! He was awarded 50 dojo points and given some souvenirs from KSS for his efforts. Well done, Rex and thank you to all the children who took part! The children are also being encouraged to save their crisp packets for a KSS Air Ambulance fundraiser - there is a large box in the hall which is now full almost to bursting. To find out more about this fundraising, please visit aakss.org.uk/crisppacketrecycling Mrs S Copus, Headteacher www.st-marys-pulborough.w-sussex.sch.uk

46 Puzzles

through the door

47