Malbank School and Sixth Form
The Prince’s Teaching Institute made the History Department think of how we could use the 450thanniversary of the school to link the past, present and future. The first step was to get the entire school involved. All staff and pupils went out into the school field and an aerial photo was taken of them in the shape of 450.
This was then used as front page of a calendar that celebrated the history of the school but also made links with the future. So one month showed a typical school day in 1560 while another looked to the future with photos of pupils hoping to make History in the 2012 Olympics.
In April the Duke of Gloucester visited (his mother had visited in 1960 on the occasion of 400th anniversary) and buried a time capsule which will be opened on the school’s 500thanniversary. All of this stimulated further interest and some pupils started to read the old school magazine dating back to 1914. From this they wrote an article for the modern school magazine about the headteacher who volunteered for military service and returned to duties in 1918 after being awarded the Order of the Nile by the Sultan of Egypt. Our next step is to build on the interest by starting a History club.
Malbank School and Sixth Form College is a successful 11 to 18 comprehensive, located in Nantwich Cheshire. It serves the needs of a community of over 1300 pupils and Sixth Form students and over 150 teaching and support staff. It is a specialist college for the Performing Arts.