School Centenary '09

More about Penmaenmawr by Maureen Rabette

Photographs

In February, we took 75 pupils (Year 5 & 6) to Penmaenmawr, as part of their study of World War II. The children learned about evacuees in this study; they have found out that 183 pupils from St Seb's were evacuated to Penmaenmawr on Sunday 3rd September 1939. At that time, children came to St Seb's until they were 14yrs old.

On arrival at Penmaenmawr, the children over 11yrs went to Central School, while the younger pupils went to Capelulo Primary. Today Central School no longer exists. It was demolished and a Primary school (Pencae School) built in its place. A "double-shift" system took place for seven months at Capelulo School. The local children would go to school in the mornings and St Seb's children would go in the afternoon, this then swapped around the next week. 

In April 1940, St Seb's children then moved into Ebenezer Hall, beside Capelulo. 49 children from St Gerard's joined them in using this old church hall. Today, Capelulo is in a newer building, but the "tinned roof" hall is still there.

We placed a request, through the Liverpool Echo, a couple of months ago, detailing our trip and asking if any of those ex-pupils evacuated in 1939 to Penmaenmawr, would like to join us on this trip. We had some people contact us and we took a couple with us (along with a family member). We know that it certainly brought back many memories for them. All our children & staff  got dressed up in clothes from that era as evacuees, land girls, wardens, etc, which enhanced our visit even more.

The idea for this trip really came from our Headteacher, Dennis Hardiman. He thought that it would be a good way to celebrate not only the children's work but also mark something historical, as St Sebastian's celebrates its 100th birthday on 3rd May. Our staff always strive to deliver a creative and enriching curriculum, so we jumped at the chance to do it! I have looked closely at our old school log books to get some of this information. Since not every child was evacuated, a log book remained at St Seb's old school (in Lockerby Road) and a new one was started at Penmaenmawr, for the duration of the evacuees' stay there. The log book mentions that 10 children returned to Liverpool after only 4wks in Penmaenmawr, presumably due to homesickness. It also says that in Dec. 1940 & Jan. 1941, 12 & 10 pupils respectively, were evacuated to Shropshire & Cardiganshire.