“I only wish I was seven again and could be a child at your school. You do such amazing things."
That was the reaction of television presenter Kate Humble when she visited West Rise Junior School in Eastbourne, East Sussex, last year and saw the school's remarkable achievements for herself.
Headteacher Mike Fairclough admits that West Rise is “unconventional to say the least" and he is right. The school owns a swarm of one million bees, has a herd of Asian water buffalo, and is currently constructing a Bronze Age village on marshland opposite the school site. There is a dark room for photography, a radio studio (children produce a weekly request show), school newspaper, and a Mongolian yurt for circle time.
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