THEY say that school days are the best years of your life and a group of pupils at St Matthew’s, in Blackmoor, certainly seem to be enjoying their learning.

“At St Matthew’s Church of England School we are encouraged, by expert teachers, to try our best and never give in to something we struggle at,” wrote year-five pupils Seb Jones, Amelia Betts and Thomas Worman.

“We set an example to the younger children by having consideration for those throughout the school. To push us out of our comfort zone, we are supported by our four church values, each one is represented by a bear: respect, friendship, achievement and faith.

“As well as doing lessons, our classes take part in different music activities. Year four have learnt how to play the clarinet and have moved onto the violin, while year five have been present in the Hampshire vocal festival. On a Friday morning Breakfast Choir, a school club, practise songs ready for the O2. The Breakfast Choir then go to the O2 in January and sing with 7,000 children from other schools in a concert called Young Voices. The Breakfast choir have won the regional inter-schools-choir competition trophy, singing acoustically Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and Big Yellow Taxi.

“As well as going to singing competitions we go on school trips as this helps us with our topics.

“Sometimes we have people come in to help us to progress further into our topics. The reception year have been to church to learn with Alice (Wood, the local vicar; years one and two have been to Alice Holt for a nature walk; years three and four have been to Marwell Zoo and Haslemere Museum to explore the art of mummification and Egypt, and years five and six have been to the Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium.

“At Christmas time we join together as a school to put on plays to show and celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have: narrators reading from the Bible, the Breakfast Choir sing heart-warming songs that make the parents cry and a Nativity play with a collection for a chosen charity at the end. This year we have sponsored a child with the charity Compassion. Each class had to raise £10.

“At St Matthews we have amazing facilities to play in, including our swimming pool. Throughout break and lunch we are able to roam the trim trail, play across an exquisite field and run wild on the playground. Because we have amazing grounds, we are able to host sports day and have a swimming gala in the pool. When it snows we can run around in the snow, and have snowball fights with the teachers.

“In church we learn all about our saviour’s life and what he did. Some stories are retold whilst others are rather quiet.

“We take regular trips to church to visit our caring vicars Dom (Clarke) and Alice. As our church is in walking distance, we stroll through the woods with our special friends, from younger year groups whom we look after and make sure they’re happy. This helps build our friendships with others.”