Summertime, When the Learning Is Easy
No, not a cue for a song but a 
description of the Wentworth Summer School which enjoyed, or endured depending on your preference, exceptionally high temperatures. However, we were not trapped, sweltering in a classroom because this was school with a difference.
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Each day, for the first four days of the week-long course, 31 pupils and five staff visited a variety of historical sites in and around Manchester.
First on the list was Beeston Castle 
where the pupils pretended to be residents of the fortress and produced diary accounts, poems and interview scripts. The second day took us to black and white timber framed Little Moreton Hall, just south of Congleton. Staff there showed us the clothing and customs of the people who lived in this house during its heyday.
Moving closer to our own time, our visit to Quarry Bank Mill and the attached Apprentice House, gave us a glimpse of the industrial revolution. Once again, pupils put pen to paper to produce mock-primary evidence of the period. Finally, we came up to date with a city trip to Urbis in Manchester where there was plenty to do and see including learning about the IRA bomb explosion which caused this part of the city to be rebuilt.
Photos, video clips and a display of the pupils’ work will be, very soon, on display on the school web site.
Summer School Poetry
Beeston Castle
Beeston Castle how old you are
Every wall crumbling 
Every door closed
Secrets never sold
Tales never told
On the journey through time
Never to be heard
Closing and opening doors
Adventure round every corner
Servants’ tales
Tales of dancing laughter…death,
Longing for freedom
Even now you can hear the sorrow of Beeston Castle
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