What's the most unusual leaving gift a teacher could give?. We find out more down in Wordsley.
Belle Vue Primary School , Wordsley, now has a very special compostable toilet in its woodland forest school, thanks to a teacher of 23 years who is leaving. She was a pupil there as were her own children and she's had many happy years working there but now as she moves on she leaves behind a special little treat. We find out more.
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00:00So we're here at Bellevue Primary School, Wordsley, and a fantastic forest school.
00:05I mean, I could camp out here. Miss, a lot of this is to do with you, isn't it?
00:10It certainly is, yes. We've been here since 2017. Yeah. And we've developed the site
00:15through the years. We've been fortunate enough that the PTA have donated money
00:20for the fabulous structures you see. Yeah. And then last year I decided I was
00:27retiring. Well that's it. How many years have you been at the school? 23. And you were a
00:31pupil here? Yes I was, yes, way back. And your children were pupils? Yes, they were. So you've got an
00:37immense history, haven't you, with the school? Yes. So go on then, so you thought
00:42what, teachers often buy a little prezzie or something when they leave.
00:45Yes, so I thought, ooh, I'll scratch my head and thought, what can I get? What can I
00:49get for the school? And I know that it's a very long way for little legs to go
00:53back to the toilet, so I thought, I know, we'll buy a toilet for the Forest School.
00:58Right, lead the way. So you did an online fundraiser, didn't you? Yes, I did a JustGiving.
01:03Yeah. Not sure how it would go, and I was overwhelmed. Yeah. The amount of money
01:09that came in quickly, the comments, made me really emotional. Oh, that's great. What a
01:16legacy to leave. A legacy, Lou. It's fantastic. Right, so this is it. This is
01:21fantastic. Right, so this is our headteacher. Hello, sir. And we've got
01:26some of our pupils here. How you doing, guys? Good. What do you think of your Forest
01:31School, first off? I love it. It's great, isn't it? It just makes me want to camp out here for the
01:36night. Do you know what I mean? So do you come down here as part of different lessons? Is that how it works?
01:41For me, it's Friday afternoons. Yeah? Yeah. I don't really know the rest. But for my little brother, it's Tuesday mornings, I think.
01:49Alright, cool. He's doing PE at the moment. What sort of stuff do you do down here, then? We build dens, we can play in the mud kitchen, that's over there.
01:56Yeah. We can make little sharp sticks and stuff with the knife set over there. Yeah, a bit of wood whittling. So, this is your toilet. So, how does it work, guys?
02:09Who's gonna tell me? Me. Go on, then. Go on, then. Right, so we know the first bit. We all know what the first bit happens.
02:16Yeah, and then it comes down here, and then you put the sawdust, and you plop it down there to cover it up. Yeah. And then, if you're a boy, you use the urinal, and it goes down. So, the urinal goes down.
02:32Ah, yeah. Where it's covered up, and there's a big pit down there. So, is there some lime, what's down there? No, it's sand chipping, so it reduces the acidity, and then it just soaks away and waters the trees.
02:49Got you. And for the other bit, the bigger bits, they basically sit in, there's two different containers, and they sit there for 12 months, ideally. Yes. And then we can use it, so it composts down, and then we can use it just like normal manure around the base of the trees. Fantastic. Yeah, that's great, isn't it?
03:09So, have you guys had the pleasure of having a try yet? Not yet. Not yet. You've got that to come then. But, what do you think of Miss then, and what she's done down here with the toilet and the wood school? I think it's really great, because before I used to have to walk all the way over, there's a big field over there, and the closest toilet that we can use is the one that's like, I don't know, I'd say a kilometre, but it's not that far.
03:38Yeah, a good walk. A few hundred metres. And are you going to miss Miss Craddock here? Yes. Miss Craddock, you can't go. They said you can't go. Will she be sorely missed, sir? Definitely, definitely. This is her legacy, and she has been here for years and years, and it's a big thing for the school to see her go.
04:02I mean, is there any other teachers here that were pupils here as well? I don't think so. No, it's quite unusual, isn't it? So, any particular memories over the years? Oh, crikey, lots of things that I've done here over the years. I've been to Gambier on a teacher exchange through the school, and we've had Gambian teachers come here.
04:26One of the things I really like was the school council and pupil leadership team, so I've taken the lead on that. And we regularly go to Parliament and show them how democracy works, take little tours down there. So there's lots of little things.
04:40So was it difficult? Did you always have a marker, a year in mind, and you thought that'll be me? Yes, yes. In a previous life, I worked for British Telecom, so when my pension matured from there, I thought, while I'm still young enough, I'll go and do some travels and do it while I'm healthy and able to.
05:02Exactly. I feel there should be a name plaque on this toilet, the Craddock something or other, I'll let you come up with perhaps. We have got a special opening ceremony and there will be a special gift given to the toilet.
05:16Fantastic, fantastic. Well let's hear it for Mrs Craddock guys. One, two, three. Yay!