School Walk 5, Fen School C

This walk took us through various parts of the town of Soham which the children had chosen as important to them, including the Lode, the park, and the Church. As well as 10 children from Year 3 (ages 7-8), we were accompanied by the deputy head and a teaching assistant.

As we go down Station Street, there is some discussion of the history of the railway, including the explosion of a munitions train during World War 2. Some of the children are aware of plans to build a new station on the line here (at the moment the line is only used by goods train), but there is argument over whether this will ever happen. One girl is certain it will, while another boy is dismissive 'I don’t think it’ll ever happen, they’ve been talking about it for ages and its not happened yet.' Only a few of the children are familiar with this street and those off it; those who are familiar point out that there are relatives living nearby and so it’s a safe place for them to play.

We reach the point where we can see the Lode pass under the railway tracks. Several children in the group had picked this out as a place where they like to go. There are briars here and we ask the children about them: 'I think roses grow on them' says one boy; when we suggest that means they don’t go blackberrying, we are immediately contradicted by several of the children who pick blackberries with friends and with family, two of whom say they have picked blackberries here. One boy also talks about coming here 'conker hunting', and this leads to another boy telling us that neighbour’s grandfather had planted a conker tree in his garden when he was young and now it had grown tall enough to drop conkers into his garden.

We ask the children what they think this point by the lode would have been like 100 years ago. There is a clear sense from most of the children that there would have been more water: 'it might have been wider'; 'it might have been sea', though one girl suggests instead that it might have been all grass (and no water). We then ask what they think it will be like in 100 years; the most important idea the children have is that this spot will be tidied up, made more accessible so that people can get closer to the water; 'the fence will still be here, but it would be neater.' One girl suggests there will be more water; 'it will get bigger and bigger as time goes by – imagine if you fell in!'

The route from here along Clay Street is familiar to many of the children, some of whom talk about coming along here to get to the church, and others talk about it as a route to the park. Those who don’t go to the park are met with surprise. 'Really? You should come here on your bike'; 'I come here on my scooter'; 'I don’t live close so I come by car.' When we reach the park, they talk about playing hide and seek here, but most of the discussion is about climbing trees. A lot of their recollections of play here are closely associated with memories of time with family, for example one boy telling us that his uncle could climb tall trees because he could run up the trunk to reach the lowest branches. None of the children come here on their own, and some talk about concerns with “older children” who smoke at the skate park and write graffiti.

We return to the school, with the children excitedly talking about the different shops along the way and how much they enjoyed the walk. Heading into the school carpark, one boy says, 'I’ll tell you why I liked doing this walk, because we got out of lessons!'