Divine Inspiration is an Engaging Places project run by deputy head, Brian Close and Helen McGowan from the Diocese of Coventry. Students from St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School have been exploring Coventry city centre, becoming church detectives and comparing two local places of worship. Read their take on the project so far.
Students visit a graveyard in Coventry © Alys Tomlinson
Written by Arianne Moore, age 9.
In Binley all of the houses are dull and plain, they have no colour on them. In Binley I now like St. Bartholomew’s Church because of the Victorian clock on the tower and the sandstone walls. I dislike Bells store because it has no colour only graffiti all over the walls, paint is coming off. In Coventry city centre my favourite is the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery. I like the curved roof with patterns on the top of it. In Coventry city centre I felt heart broken to see all of the ruins from World War 2. The old cathedral because of all of the ruins from the World War 2, smashed stained glass windows.
I like the new Cathedral with one wall all glass with angels drawn on the glass on the outside. In Binley I dislike the Binley Mega Chippy because of the colour on the sign makes me feel sick, bright yellow on a red building. Nearby there is a Tudor cottage. I know it is because you can see the frame work on the outside.
I really enjoy my area now because I have seen many really old buildings from the past that have character, like the gym. It has a lot of character because it has all of the healthy machines.
Written by Callum Brown, age 9.
In Binley most houses are the same, but you have to look deeply at most houses to find detail in them. There is a Tudor cottage, I myself admit that I think this “I have walked past it loads of times but never noticed it”. That’s because it’s unnoticed, because there’s a chip shop by it called Binley Mega Chip shop. Also in Binley is Saint Bartholomew’s Church. The good thing about the church is that it’s surrounded by fields but the fields are far away from the west of the Church. East of the church there is an old farmhouse from 1887 or before. The old Farmhouse is probably just bigger than a normal house, the Farmhouse also has a little driveway to get in to the courtyard, also that probably would have been used for horse and carts, later tractors, to go through.
In Coventry city centre I like the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery because of the roof. It has triangular windows and the shape of the roof was curved. I also liked the City College because it had a curved sides and the first floor wasn’t made of brick but glass! I like the new cathedral because it is a place of worship and because it is a tall building which makes it stand out.
Exploring Saint Bartholomew’s Church was really fun because you had to concentrate and some of the questions made you think really, really hard. But I still enjoyed it. I have really enjoyed learning about these buildings because I have learned a lot about my local area and how to be a Church Detective!
Student on visit to Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Coventry © Alys Tomlinson
Written by Kirsty Adams, age 8.
In Binley I now like the old Tudor cottage because you can see the old well were the people used to get their water from which it is now filled with plants. I also like St Bartholomew’s Church because it has lots of different stained glass windows I like pretty much all 11 of them.
In the city centre, I now like the City College because it is a curved building.It is pretty rare we have curved buildings. I also like the Herbert art gallery because it is made with glass with wooden frames which is unusual. Also, I like the Coventry Transport Museum. Inside it has as computer screen about WW2. I also like the cobble stone street called Hill Top which is hundreds of years old.
I love the area that I live in. It is now far more interesting.
Written by Maxim Reilda, age 7.
I live in the Binley area. Most of the buildings seem to me as being the same type of houses in my area, they all look the same. Some stand out like the Binley Mega Chippy because it is painted in bright red and yellow. This makes it look different. I have not really noticed anything else.
Since we have been going on trips out of school I have noticed many different places and buildings. I really like the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery in the city centre because the roof is so curvy. The curved roof is made up of a wooden frame with glass in between. This is unexpected. I have never seen anything like this before. This is a really modern and exciting building to go inside and look at. Exploring St. Bartholomew’s Church I noticed lots of different shapes in the building like triangles, rectangles, circles and I found a semi-circle.
I have learnt more about buildings outside of our school from our trips. It has been very interesting, exciting and fun.
The Engaging Places network
To find out about other partnerships and projects developing through the Engaging Places network visit the 2009/10 Engaging Places network article.
