Every year Marksbury C of E Primary School holds a themed Spring Fair. This year the theme of the fair was the celebration of their 150th anniversary. We spoke to the headteacher, Julie Player, about the celebration, some of the school’s history, and the school’s role as a church school in the community.
The Christian faith is central to the school, which was a church school from the beginning. The school is linked to St Peter’s Church, which is just across the road. Julie said, "When I started 8 years ago, Preb Jan was our rector and she was integral to everything we did at school. She visited at least once a fortnight to do workshops with the children, as well as collective worship. Around that time, we developed our 2-year rolling programme of Christian values for the school, which has permeated everything we do. It completely changed the behaviour and the ethos of our school. We’re also a THRIVE school, so we’re a very nurturing school and the children really benefit from that.
"Once a month, a class from the school visits St Peter’s Church for ‘Thursday Tea’. Members of the community and parents meet the children and find out about their learning. The school goes to the church for a celebration event every other term. And once a fortnight the new vicar of St Peter’s, Revd Guy Martin-Scott, comes to the school and holds assembly."
The original schoolhouse still stands and houses the library and group rooms. The original hall is used for daily collective worship, lunch and PE. The children learnt that there used to be just one class, which was taught in the hall, and the headteacher used to live in the schoolhouse. Over time, additional rooms have been added to the school.
In the past 5 years Marksbury School has developed many links to the community. They link with the local places the children come from, and when they do their geography ‘Explore’ projects, the youngest children visit these places, learn about them, and compare the villages and towns. The school has been adopted by The Pig Hotel and Restaurant in Hunstrete, where the children visit the kitchen garden, take part in challenges and treasure hunts in the grounds, and cook in the kitchen. They go to the local Chelwood Scout Campsite for outdoor learning. The school is also part of Waitrose’s FareShare programme, which supports their Breakfast Club and After School Club.
For the anniversary celebration, Year 5/6 children went through archival photographs and created a timeline, which they presented to the parents. Some of the parents were able to recognise grandparents and great-grandparents in the old photos. The children dressed up in the clothing of different decades: the younger children, Victorian; Year 1/2, 1920s; Year 3/4, 1950s-60s; and Year 5/6, 1980s-90s. They paraded through the village while the parents lined the street and cheered, then the children sang on the playground.
David Williams, School Effectiveness Lead and Adviser for the Diocese of Bath and Wells, presented the school with a commemorative plaque on behalf of Bishop Michael.
