5
Fantastic Mr Fox!
A surprise visitor to the Flying Bull made
global headlines
The Flying Bull comes in to land
CAT's first Portsmouth academy opened in April 2014
Reputed to be the first state school in Portsmouth, the original
Flying Bull school was established in 1884 or even earlier.
Headteacher Mr Deamonn Hewett-Dale explained the
fantastical name, which is loved by pupils and staff:
'The story is that in the 1800s an air balloon was launched to
see how far it would travel. As the gentlemen weren't brave
enough to get in the basket themselves, they caught a bull
from a nearby field and placed it in the basket. The balloon
eventually landed in the area of Buckland, Portsmouth where
the original school was located. Hence, the Flying Bull School
and the former Air Balloon pub down the road!'
An Ofsted 'Good' primary and nursery school, The Flying Bull
Academy has an additional resourced provision for children
with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties.
A £3.1m refurbishment project has just been completed with
Portsmouth City Council which includes The Hub - a
wonderful centre for IT and learning resources.
Pupils at The Flying Bull Academy love their Environmental
Area which includes a pond, a garden and eight happy hens.
Their chicken coop made international news recently when a
sneaky fox took up residency and was found snoozing on top
of the eggs by surprised Year 6 Egg Monitors.
Quick-thinking Jane France, Flying Bull's administrative
manager, grabbed her camera to take the shot which
appeared in newspapers and online across the world - from
the UK's Daily Mail, Independent and Daily Express to press
and social media sites in the US, China and Taiwan.
Mrs France said: 'The story caught everyone's imagination.
The chickens were happily scratching around the garden
while in the corner of the coop was this beautiful creature
sitting very still and quite unperturbed. He left after having
his photo taken with the eggs all intact and the chickens
none the wiser!'
Above, pupils explore The Hub
with Headteacher Mr Deamonn
Hewett-Dale; left, a foxy visitor
for The Flying Bull.