27.09.24
Year 5 have had such an eventful first couple of weeks back at school! We started the year off strong by embarking on our first trip to the Alfred Gillet Trust. The Alfred Gillet Trust is an independent charity which preserves heritage collections, which tell the stories about the family, people and business behind shoemaking in Street.
This trip aids our knowledge as we are soon to start our first History topic – Small Town Big History. We had such an enjoyable (and busy!) day visiting local areas in Street that held prominence in the Clarks family’s life. We started at Crispin Hall, where events were held for the community, and which was paid for by William Stephens Clark. We learnt that it is named after St. Crispin – the patron saint of shoemaking.
We then moved onto the old library – this was built in 1925 to encourage workers to read. Next, we walked over to Greenbank Pool, which was opened in 1937. Alice Clark commissioned this pool for somewhere in Street for women and children to swim; the men used the River Brue! After that, we stopped at the Bear Inn for a quick snack and break.
We then visited the Quaker meeting house – the Clarks family were Quakers and believed in core values such as equality and peace. We also visited Clarks HQ and learnt that the bells in the clock tower are named after the 4 Clarks daughters – Alice, Margaret, Esther and Hilda. We passed Elmhurst school as we walked on to Millfield, learning that it was once home to the Clark family. We ended our trip at Millfield school where we had lunch, took part in some timeline activities and were lucky enough to look around Millfield house – another house where the Clarks once lived!
We had a fantastic day with the brilliant staff at Alfred Gillet Trust and look forward to exploring the history of Street further in our History and Geography lessons. Thank you to our families for their co-operation with picking their children up at a different location.
Meanwhile, we have been busy in school consolidating our place value knowledge in Maths and now will be looking at formal addition and subtraction, as well as mental methods that we could use to help us. In English, we have been looking at the features of diary entries and have had a go at writing our own. Next week, we will write a diary entry from Bradley Chalker’s perspective – ask your child who he is!
In Science, we have begun our Properties of Materials unit and have already completed 2 investigations! We will be learning lots of new vocabulary over the next couple of weeks so be sure to question your child about what they have learnt. The children have really impressed us with their stamina in writing up their investigations, and their great teamwork when carrying out the practical side.
