School in the heart of Cotswolds celebrates 150 years

Children at Sherborne CofE Primary School are holding a celebration each month to mark the anniversary and the school has big plans for its future.

The school opened in 1868, and to launch this anniversary year, children created items to bury in a time capsule for future generations to uncover.

Each child wrote about life in the year 2018 and also their vision of life in 2168. Children also put some of their toys and school stationery in the time capsule, such as Lego, pencils and rubbers, as well as a memory card containing photos of the school.

Finally, the capsule was buried in the school grounds, where a timeline path will be created around it.

Last month, the school entertained 24 students and teachers from across Europe. As part of a European Project (Erasmus+) to learn more about the history and culture of each country, children from Sherborne worked alongside students from Croatia, Finland, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

Sherborne, which leads the overall coordination of the project, exhibited some of the children’s work and research on the history of the school, which will form part of a collaborative book later in the year.

This month saw the planting of 15 fruit trees, provided by The Tree Council, one to mark each decade of the school’s life so far. Parents got involved in helping dig and stake the holes, and children worked in teams to plant the trees.

Over time, it is hoped that the trees will provide fruit for both the school and the local community.

Other projects planned for the year include creating a geocache route and ‘travel bug’, re-enacting the traditional May Day Fayre, making a commemorative wall hanging and creating some large pieces of artwork to illustrate the timeline. Additionally, the school is working with national planning agencies to design and create new classrooms. This will allow for the beautiful, historic building to house a new hall, which will be open to the public.