History came alive for pupils at one of our schools, who were given rare access to its centuries-old archives.
Staff from Riddlesden St Mary’s C of E Primary School were delighted to stumble across a wide range of their school’s physical archives, some dating back to as long as 200 years ago.
Headteacher Linda Wright created a special project to immerse the pupils in their school’s history in a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“They were incredibly curious and eager to get to work!” said Mrs Wright.
Pupils scoured their school’s log books, honours books, admission and withdrawal registers, teacher application forms, attendance records and exclusion records.
“Some of the records were so old, dust came off them when we were leafing through!” said one Year 6 pupil. 
The children were most intrigued by the corporal punishment records – both shocked and amused to see what undesirable behaviours required a punishment and what that punishment entailed.
“Back in the 1960s in our very own school, children were caned if they did something naughty,” a year 6 pupil explained.
“‘One example was that a child threw powder paint in their classroom and then ran away. For this, they received a light caning on their left hand!”
Family history was also revealed for one pupil: “We found a photo of reception class in 1990. What I wasn’t expecting was to see my mum sitting on the second row, a small four-year-old girl. That was so cool to find!”
Mrs Wright said how one teacher summed up the project’s success by saying: “We totally lost track of time, forgot to go out to break and the children didn’t want the morning to end. That to me summarises curiosity and investment in learning.”