In October 2017, Miss Kingston put together the first school history exhibition since the Centenary celebrations back in 1996. This exhibition was held to celebrate our school’s recent local history project. Children, teachers, parents, local members of the community and old pupils came to find out more about the rich history of the school and to see example of children’s learning. Trips to the Bristol Records Office supplemented existing school archival material and this was displayed alongside examples of the children’s learning.

The exhibition showcased the school’s historical past and all the learning the children did around it. History lessons became a little closer to home as children learned about the past through the lens of their school: school archival materials such as historical maps, photographs, old school newspapers, registers and school Log Books, as well as vivid alumni memories all helped to bring history to life for the pupils.

Highlights of the exhibition included:

• Original handwritten letters dating back to 1916, written by pupils of Bishop Road’s Infant Department to their teacher on the occasion of her marriage
• A previously unknown drawing by Cary Grant
• The first school Attendance Register dating back to 1986, a legal requirement for all head teachers, along with extracts from the first school Log Book
• The personal effects of Reginald Thomas, an old pupil who fought and died in World War One (including his helmet, smashed pocket watch, helmet worn into battle and his letters from the front)
• Evocative alumni memories of school life during air raids in World War Two.
• A WW2 school evacuation diagram discovered by Miss Kingston at the Bristol Records Office, showing how children followed a ‘aid raid drill’ to get to the school bomb shelters.
• Original red fire buckets dating back to World War Two, found by Thomas Powe (Buildings Manager) in the school’s old Power Room.