The Story of School House

The School House is the building attached to the left hand side of the school. It was built as part of the original school, nearly 250 years ago. Then it was the teacher's house with the learning going on in what is now Class 1 and the offices. At some point in its history it became a private residence, still owned by the Harewood Estate. For many years the school has been in discussions with the Estate to gain usage of the house so that we can expand our facilities. Finally, through the active involvement of Lord Harewood, this has been achieved and work has begun.

The front of the building will become our new school entrance, with a path coming off the main Harrogate Road. The old front room will become the school office.

The kitchen area will be converted into an open library and sitting area.

 

There will also be Mr Madeley's office, a meeting room, a disabled toilet and storage space downstairs. On the first floor two bedrooms, the landing and the bathroom are all being knocked together to make a new classroom for Class 3.

 

One thing is certain. Taste in wallpaper was different when it was last decorated. There will also be a group room for this new classroom halfway up a new staircase.

Moving one classroom will mean that we can increase the size of the Class 4 classroom in the main building, making it a third bigger again than it is now. The rest of the old Class 3 space will be a new group work room.

So that we can get between the two buildings, the current school kitchen is moving to where the offices are now. The kitchen space will become a corridor and Class 1 cloakroom, with two additional toilets.

These are very exciting times. We hope to keep disruption to a minimum but are sure everyone will be patient while the work goes on. If all goes well the project will be competed by Christmas.

A VERY exciting hole in a wall

Finally after many years of waiting the renovation project on School House has begun. Today the first hole appeared in a wall. First they marked out where the door would be. 

Next they put in props to make sure the wall did not collapse.

And then they started drilling through.

Now we can see into the building from the outside and soon there will be a doorway. We have passed the point of no return!

13/06/11 - One doorway!

Sunshine, Sea and Sand by Class One

Class One had a fantastic time in Filey with Class Two on Tuesday and both classes were a credit to the school.
The children in Class One wanted to tell everyone what they had done on the beach. They chose the photographs and wrote captions to go with them. If you haven't already seen the notice board this week you will be able to see the children's actual writing after the half-term holiday.

I was burying Connel's digger.

Sam

This is me having my lunch.

Martha

I buried my feet.

Arun

I am in the boat. It is fun.

Jerram

I like the sand castle.

Jack

I was playing in the sand.

Theo

I like the sea.

Ptolemy

I am fetching the water.

Koutaro

I went to the sea to paddle.

Connel

I was playing with the sand.

Henry

We had fun at the beach.

Joe

Emily and I were playing in the boat having fun.

Sinead

I went to fetch some water.

Emily

I was making a cow.

Thomas

We were on the dinosaur.

Niamh

"Oh we did like to be beside the seaside!"

Class two's fantastic Filey adventure

We designed our own sandcastles, Bobby dug a moat.

We worked together, digging to build our sandcastles.

We enjoyed some yummy ice lollies.

Emily and Isabella got buried in the sand!

Charlie buried himself!

Tom found a crab.

We paddled in the sea, and jumped over waves.

We got a little bit wet!

Ruben was on the hunt for some beautiful shells.

We had a super day, thankfully the weather was good!

Thank you to everyone that helped to make our trip so wonderful.

Archaeology @ Harewood

On Thursday Class 4 was fortunate enough to experience a day of hands on and interactive learning alongside archaeologists and historians who are currently working on the excavation of Gawthorpe Hall in the grounds of Harewood House.

We started the day looking at the tools archaeologists use and techniques they use to decide where the dig should begin.

We found out that Gawthorpe Hall was a medieval manor house.  It had a number of owners including the Lascelles family who made money from owning sugar plantations in Barbados and from the slave trade. The family wanted a bigger and grander home to reflect their wealth and had a new house built further up the hill - Harewood House. Gawthorpe Hall was destroyed and Capability Brown, who designed the gardens at Harewood, landscaped over the remains of the house where they have remained hidden until now.

We had an informative tour of the site and spent the afternoon sorting artefacts into categories and carefully cleaning them so they could be formally recorded for the dig.

We found pottery, shells, piping and lots of interesting bones including this piece of jaw with teeth. The children were all totally enthralled and inspired by all the activities. The sun shone for us and we had the added excitement of the BBC filming and interviewing us!

Please feel free to come up to class 4 to see all the photos from the trip – and keep an eye on your gardens, Mrs Lockwood and I cannot be responsible for class 4 pupils digging up your flower beds!!!!