BUDDING news reporters at St Matthew’s Primary School put their writing skills to the test, after visiting the Weald and Downland Living Museum.

Year 1 pupils at the Blackmoor school have been learning all about The Great Fire of London and extended their knowledge of 17th-century buildings by visiting the Singleton-based museum.

Year 1 teacher Lizzie Soal said: “The children were all enthusiastic about exploring buildings similar to those which would have been standing in 1666. We thought carefully about the building materials used to construct the houses.”

Year 1 had recently burnt dry wood, clay, straw and fabric on a small fire to see what effect it had on each material.

“We considered these results when thinking about whether the 17th-century houses would have burnt in The Great Fire of London,” she added.

“The children had recalled so many interesting facts and experiences from the trip that we decided it would be fun to become newspaper reporters, writing about our favourite parts of the school trip.”

Students in ‘Oak class’ said: “We hope you enjoy reading our news reports. We worked really hard, doing our best writing, writing about what we did on our school trip.”

The first report was written by five-year-old Isla Stephens and read: “We went to the Weald and Downland Museum, the stairs were dark. There were bumpy floors.”

While Ivy Muggeridge, also aged five, wrote: “We went to Weald and Downland Museum. And saw lots of ducks. And saw lots of houses. And we saw two horses working. And we had lunch there.

“It was very fun. And we split into groups. And we were there for a long time.”

Report three came from five-year-old Dalton Fry, who wrote: “We went to a museum. We saw a fire.”

And Isabelle Haywood, aged five, wrote: “We went to Weald and Downland, we saw some wooden houses. They would burn and they were dark and steep and some of the houses had fire places and they had different beds and they had different shops.”

It comes in the same week that staff and students started celebrating the 150th birthday of the Blackmoor primary school.

The school was historically located next to St Matthew’s C of E Church (which started in 1871), but was moved in 1962 to new premises situated in Drift Road, Blackmoor.

The school church was designed by Sir Roundell Palmer, who also designed the Natural History Museum in London.

A former headteacher was Thomas Adlam, who fought in both world wars and won the Victoria Cross for bravery in no-man’s land, in the First World War.

The present headteacher is Kay Pennicotte-Henrie, who has led the school for the past two years.

An “extravagant” celebration is currently being organised by Year 5 and 6 pupils to mark the momentous occasion, set to include games through the ages, food and an exhibition of the school’s time-line.

The event will be held on November 26, from 3.30pm to 5pm.

Mrs Pennicotte-Henrie said: “We are very excited and privileged to be celebrating 150 years of St Matthew’s School.

“We have already had a church celebration where our choir sang and the bishop led the service.

“We are hoping to learn about the school in days gone by when former teachers and pupils share their memories.”