Welcome back, I hope you had a wonderful holiday. During the holidays we received a lovely email from a man who did his teacher training at Clearwell 50 years ago. There is a copy of his email below, it was delightful to read a little bit about the history of our school and village.
Dear Headteacher
I was delighted, on looking up the Clearwell School website, to see a
thriving village school. My interest arises because in October it will
be fifty years since I spent four weeks at the school as a first-year
student teacher at St. Paul’s College, Cheltenham (now part of the
University of Gloucestershire). St. Paul’s had a good system that when
you entered the college a month was spent on admin of the course and
then it was straight out to schools for a month. Some students realised
quickly that schools were not for them and so did not waste any more of
their time (or the college’s).
At the time the school was run by a husband and wife team–Mr. and Mrs.
Tantram, so during that month the school had two teachers and three
students! It was a most enjoyable month, during which we three students
lived from Monday to Friday at Clearwell Castle, which was then owned by
Mr. Yates who was renovating it, having formerly owned a chip shop in
Blackpool.
I recall that we students used to regularly visit a nearby pub, not to
drink, but to enjoy their excellent ploughman lunches (even during the
evening!) Those meals cost one shilling and sixpence (17 and a half
pence). I can’t remember the name of the pub now, but I do recall that
Mr. Tantram was a regular at The Lamb on the other side of the village.
Now that the training colleges no longer exist I don’t know if you have
trainee teachers coming to you now, but I have fond memories of the school.
Best wishes
Robert Cooke
Bug Collecting
Willow have enjoyed an afternoon collecting and identifying bugs in the garden. KS2 parents will be able to see more photographs on Seesaw later this weekend, but here are a few to whet your appetite!
Our Celebrations
- Our Stars
- Attendance – 2 houses at 100%
- House points – 48
- Top Table