Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, today visited St. Benedict’s in Wombourne to help celebrate the school’s 150th Anniversary.
St Benedict’s first opened its doors in 1863, as a National School, but there have numerous changes made to the establishment over the past 150 years.
In honour of this occasion, over the past week the children have been finding out about what school life was like back in the Victorian era.
The Victorian school experience has seen students sing Music hall songs together, play hopscotch, hide and seek and hoop games, and take part in Victorian style drill exercises.
The Anniversary celebrations kicked off on Monday morning with a balloon launch from the school field. Every child released either a burgundy or silver balloon, at 9.00am, creating a spectacular sight over the roof-tops.
After the balloon launch, all the children in Key Stage 1 headed off to the Black Country Museum for a hands-on learning experience, exploring the Museum's historic buildings and collections.
Meanwhile, the Key Stage 2 children buried a time capsule in the school grounds to give children attending the school in the future an insight into what life was like in 2013.
The Bishop of Wolverhampton visited on Thursday to plant a tree in honour of the occasion.
In the course of today, rounding off the week of celebrations, the children are dressing in Victorian costume and enjoying a tea party.
On the event, Gavin said: “I was greatly honoured to be invited to help celebrate St. Benedict’s 150th anniversary and really enjoyed meeting everybody at the school. Schools, such as St. Benedict’s, act as the beating hearts of our villages here in South Staffordshire. It is a massive testament to the hard work of the staff and the continued support of the local community that St. Benedict’s has continued to thrive over the decades.
“The changes that have occurred since the Victorian era are truly incredible. It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall when that capsule is finally opened and to find out what the students of the future think about our present era.”
On the event, Gavin said: “I was greatly honoured to be invited to help celebrate St. Benedict’s 150th anniversary and really enjoyed meeting everybody at the school. Schools, such as St. Benedict’s, act as the beating hearts of our villages here in South Staffordshire. It is a massive testament to the hard work of the staff and the continued support of the local community that St. Benedict’s has continued to thrive over the decades.
“The changes that have occurred since the Victorian era are truly incredible. It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall when that capsule is finally opened and to find out what the students of the future think about our present era.”