Historical school records showed that for each important royal event, Collingham School sent a telegram to Buckingham Palace and so the children wanted to once again write in a similar manner to that of the children in the school nearly 75 years ago.
Mr Paul Cook, Headteacher, said: “At Collingham, we have a passion for history – and local history in particular – and the children were fascinated to read of how telegrams had been sent from those connected to this very school.
"The children were keen to replicate this in 2023 and so everyone spent time writing a letter to congratulate King Charles III on his Coronation.
"This really is an example of bringing history to life and to make connections between the past and present.”
Led by the school’s Curriculum Leader, Mrs Kara Swift, and History Subject Leader, Mrs Helen Hesketh, the children were shown a bound book of historical school records that had been written by previous headteachers.
These records went as far back as the 1930s and - in among them - the children found references to commemorating the birth of Prince Charles in 1948; celebrating the Coronation of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II in 1953; and also recognising the return of Queen Elizabeth II from a tour of the Commonwealth in 1954.
The children also took part in a red, white and blue non-uniform day; enjoyed a Coronation picnic on the school field; and participated in a special Collective Worship about the Christian value of ‘service’ to share some of the letters that have been written.
“Our school coronation celebrations have been a fantastic opportunity to enhance our history curriculum,” said Mrs Hesketh.
"The children have thoroughly enjoyed using our school records as a source of evidence to investigate how our school celebrated the birth of Prince Charles and the Queen’s coronation in the past.
"They were very excited to find an original telegram from Buckingham Palace thanking the children for their messages.”
Mrs Swift added: “We’ve had a fantastic week celebrating the Coronation.
"When planning for the coronation, we wanted to make it personal to our school and community and provide the children with lots of purposeful learning opportunities.
"Our old school record book was the perfect way to do this.
"The children have loved learning about how the coronation of Queen Elizabeth was celebrated at our school in the past and the book of letters we have written to King Charles will provide a record for future generations to look at.”