What an entertaining start to the new year for Year 5. Led by the irrepressible Mrs Prior, they kicked off the first lesson of term with an immersion into Alfred Noye’s narrative poem, The Highwayman, which they will be studying for the next six weeks.

Looking at a tableau representing the highwayman’s table at the inn, they considered the various props and the clues they gave about the character. This of course included the opportunity to handle it all - swords, tankards, stolen jewels and all!

Mrs Prior took them on a journey into the highwayman’s world, in which nervous nobles galloped the cart-tracks of the nation in trepidation of the knock of a gloved hand at their carriage windows! Ladies swooned, gentlemen exchanged tales of bravery and the children laughed a lot as the vivid depictions of the characters, played by Mrs Prior and an impromptu Year 5 cast, lit up the Theatre.

They considered why it was so hard to identify a thief to the public, with no photographs, news channels or social media, and enjoyed getting to grips with the politics, domestic habits and social landscape of the period.

Of course, a good deal of appreciation for the feeling imbued in us by a tragic poem managed to sneak in, interwoven into all the fun. The children can’t wait to study the poem in earnest and we can’t wait to see the results!