Another Busy Schools Week

Four schools came on board this week from Dover, Sittingbourne, Sheerness and Canning Town, East London. St Edward's School, Sheerness found our visitor book and wrote:

"A fabulous experience, the children thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the staff. Will definitely book again".

Thanks to Ensign Bus, Purfleet for allowing us to park the bus in their massive yard overnight.  It was great working with Steve Ball and his team from CEF in London.  Here the bus sprung a fuel leak, which was fixed with the turn of a spanner.  No need for an expensive diagnosis by plugging in a laptop!

More Feedback From More School Visits

Fantastic feedback from schools this week:

“The children have had a fantastic day. It really brought it alive for them. We’ve had great feedback from the parents who visited too. Thank You”

Cliftonville School

“We had a wonderful time. The children absolutely loved it and really enjoyed the chance to ask questions. A lovely end to our WW2 topic. Thank you so much”

St Richard’s School, Dover

PTA Hot

The Parent Teacher Association website has added a feature on Home Front Bus.  Why not take a look http://www.pta.org.uk/ .

Serious Swalecliffe Fun

The more schools we visit, the more the team enjoy themselves.  Yesterday we visited Swalecliffe Primary School and found the staff and pupils a real delight to be with.  Thank you for hosting us and for the following comment in our Visitor Book:

"Thank you for a wonderful day.  All our children thoroughly enjoyed their time on the Home Front Bus.  It really brought our learning alive, and the things they have learnt about became real to them.  A fantastic day."

Three Schools in Three Busy Days

We've been working hard this past week and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the process.

First we returned to Darrick Wood School, not to focus on the Home Front but on London Transport.  This was a change of theme but Ed and I got stuck in and a good time was had by all.  Thanks to Alison Tanner for posting the following comment on Facebook:

'We were very impressed - we'd loved the Home Front and weren't sure you could enthrall them as much with London Transport but they were so enthusiastic about it all you obviously succeeded! Thank you.'

Next up was Hayes primary School, which was a real delight:

'The children had a fantastic time.  Excellent input and successful day. Thank you'

Our third day was spent at Churchill Primary School, Westerham where heavy rain couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the pupils, the staff or the team:

'The children have had the most wonderful day, such wonderful input and friendly staff.  They have all learnt so much and the bus has really helped to bring history to life.  Thank you so much.'

Congratulations also to Churchill School as several of their pupils are the only ones so far to recognise an ARP issue Bible when they see one!

Driving home from Westerham I was unsure whether I was driving a bus or piloting a boat.  Dark, flooded roads and continual torrential rain made it all very interesting.  Now where did I leave my voice?

Beaver Green School Pupils Speak Out

Following a recent visit to Beaver Green School (our 2nd this year) some of the pupils sent through their thoughts on the day:

"It was really fun! The best bit was where we saw a real bomb but it didn’t blow up! I also liked it when the lady talked to us about rationing, they didn’t get much food!"

Chloe

"I would like to go on it again! My favourite bit was the Anderson Shelter!"

Kieran

"Everybody in our class loved the Home-Front bus, it was fantastic!"

Shannon

"Suspense crawls all over you as you are waiting for your turn!"

Ruby

"The people that showed us round were very kind!"

Wiktoria

"The Anderson Shelter was super; I expect they really made you feel at home, once they had added their own touches!"

"It was so fun, I hope that they visit again!"

Sultan

"I loved every part of it! It was amazing! I enjoyed travelling back in time!"

Sam

"The best bit about the bus was the shop!"

Lauren

"It was interesting seeing the bomb! It made me jump when the man shouted 'Turn that light off!'”

Good News for Smaller School Groups

Up to now it has not been cost effictive for Home Front Bus to visit schools with smaller groups.  We are pleased to announce however that we can now offer a single class size the opportunity to visit us either at The Battle of Britain Memorial http://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/the-memorial/ or Dover Transport Museum  http://www.dovertransportmuseum.org.uk/ .  This will allow a school to combine a visit to the bus with either the memorial or the musuem at a reduced cost to a full day visit of the bus to a school.

The first school to take advantage of this arrangement was Boughton-under-Blean Primary School who visited the bus today with a single class at the Battle of Britain Memorial and left the following comment in our Visitor Book:

"Having completed so many year 6 trips about WW2 I can hand on heart say that this has been the most enjoyable and informative by far. So much information in such a short space of time. Characters were very knowledgeable and friendly. History brought to life!"