Winterfold School – Classics Trip and Hitting the Wall Challenge

01 May 2018

A year and a half in the planning, Winterfold School’s Classics tour to the Bay of Naples finally jetted off on Friday 20th April.

Using Hotel Klein Wein in Piano di Sorrento as their base, the Winterfold tour party consisting of Year 6, 7 and 8 pupils and staff spent four days exploring the classical sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was an opportunity to bring ancient history lessons to life; Herculaneum, famous for being one of the few ancient cities that can been seen in much of its original splendour where beds, doors, roofs, food were preserved under the pyroclastic material and the excavated city of Pompeii which provides a snapshot of Roman life in the first century, frozen at the moment it was buried on 24 August AD 79. The forum, baths, houses and some of the villas remain well preserved.

Mrs Sarah Miles, Year 8 Tutor and Head of English and Drama read out some of the pupils’ work on the devastation caused by the eruption of Vesuvius and commented “It really brought home what it must have been like.”

The children flexed their geographical knowledge whilst climbing Mount Vesuvius and two of the teachers opted to run up it in preparation for their Hitting the Wall Challenge* during May half term.

Blessed with fantastic weather, the tour party of forty-three concluded their trip learning about the history and natural wonders of the Island of Capri from land and sea.

Commenting on the tour, Mr Simon Dieppe, Year 7 Tutor said “Winterfold pupils got a huge amount out of the trip; it was the perfect blend of mind-blowing educational experiences and fun!”

*Hitting the Wall Challenge: Simon Dieppe and David Loughton, Year 7 and 8 teachers, along with Winterfold parents will be attempting to run the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall from Newcastle to Bowness-on-Solway in three days.

When Principal Armstrong Mthembu visited Winterfold from Ncemaneni Primary in October, staff were shocked to hear that a large number of pupils at the school have a 15–20K round-journey to school each day by foot. As if this isn’t bad enough, many of these children aged between 6 and 15 don’t own a pair of shoes. The aim of the Hitting the Wall Challenge is to raise money to buy and transport as many pairs of suitable shoes as possible to Ncemaneni.