Stogumber School QR code poetry

Monday 24th March and it's Stogumber and Crowcombe Schools turn to explore the Coleridge Way in Monksilver. The day started with a rather circuitous bus journey which avoided a single S bend, and took 30 mins rather than 10! Undaunted the children were quickly put on task with great support from Stogumber school.

Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash guided the pupils up an ancient Hollow Way which rises out of Monksilver and sits pretty much in the middle of the current Coleridge Way trail. (The extension to Lynmouth is well underway, and being sign posted.) Words were collected from the trail, what they saw, heard, smelt, felt etc, and these were scribed down by teachers and helpers alike. In fact the pupils were so forthcoming that is was tricky for the scribes to keep up.

"The wind was whistling silently in the trees whilst brushing past my face was the light fluffy breeze."

Descending down the Holloway track of the Coleridge Way

"Waterfall flowing in me,
Waterfall flowing in you,
I can see it and you can too. 

Cold, icy water upon your skin
It pricks you like a pointy pin,
I can feel it and you can too,
thats the waterfall flowing in you."

Treasure!

The trail passes Monksilver 13th C Church which purports to have the oldest depiction of dentists in their Gargoyles.

"The wiggly roots knotted in a web of wonder."

At the foot of the trail in Monksilver

Back in the classroom the pupils worked on the art of writing our poetry, Mrs Mash and Mr Jelley along with teachers Mr Wedderkopp and Mrs Phillips drew on their educators acumen to draw some stunning work from the budding authors, many had no idea they could write poetry!

"Slimy, slow and sluggish slugs
Wow! this place is infested with bugs
But there's not just bugs, there's also decay
What hideous things I've seen today."

Back in the class with Mrs Mash leading the poetry workshop

The next job is for Mr Jelley to transcribe the poetry, then render into QR codes for laser etching and installing along the trail (with full permissions of course). With special thanks Stogumber School and staff for being so welcoming, and especially their pupils who rose to the task, what a day.

Laser etched QR code poetry should be in place early June, so keep your eyes peeled along the trail.

QR Code Poetry along the Coleridge Way

The school motif.

Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash were working with Timberscombe and Cutcombe schools this week on a Coleridge Way poetry project. Last year they worked with three other local schools creating poetry which was re installed along the trail in the form of QR codes. (Square bar codes)

Word harvesting

The first part of the day is called word harvesting, the pupils, all aged under nine, were asked to write down everything they could hear, feel, see, touch etc. They journeyed to a major Oak tree a little way from the village, which is represented on the school logo. Last year's poetry was all about snow, ice, numb feet and aching limbs. On Monday they expected the words to be more about flooding, water, rain and wind, but amazingly the sun shone and they had rather an excellent day.

The Oak is approximately 600 years old, so it would have been 400 years old when Coleridge walked this way, something the children found really interesting. Timberscombe has had a school for 300 years and over that time it has been a regular walk for the pupils, exploring and understanding their unique countryside.

An acorn cup

When the word harvesting was complete and the pupils had mud swilling from every welly boot, it was time to head back to the class to then take these words and craft them into some poetry.

At the Major Oak Tree

The final pieces when finished will be laser etched into slate then re installed along the Coleridge Way trail, most likely on finger posts, continuing the work started last year.

Children joining hands around the trunk

If you see any of the QR codes along the trail then they are easily de-coded with a free scanning app (lots to choose from) and the best thing is that they require no data connection so they work in the most remote places on Exmoor.

Pupils at the tree

Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash will be working with two other schools during March, and will be installing this second phase of poetry along different stretches of the trail ready for the summer.