DOUBLE PE was called off yesterday as more than 50 girls took to the fields of Oxford High School to witness the solar eclipse.

Armed with colanders, homemade pin-hole projectors and protective glasses, the pupils were joined by science teacher Joseph Hobbs to view the darkening skies.

Excitement had been building for several weeks after Mr Hobbs discovered, while teaching a lesson on eclipses several weeks ago, that the next one was just around the corner.

He said: “When we covered eclipses earlier this term, one of the girls asked when the next one was – after a quick Google I realised it was at the end of term – it was amazing.

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“I emailed the other science teachers and we agreed we had to do something for it.

“They have all been so excited.

It was great timing and perfect for them.”

Oxford Mail:

Oxford High School pupils watching the eclipse with special glasses, pinhole cameras and colanders to see
reflections of it

The children had been making pin-hole projectors from cardboard boxes in class earlier this week and brought in colanders from home.

The playing fields descended into darkness with a chill in the air as the moon obscured about 85 per cent of the sun’s surface at about 9.30am.

Afterwards, the 12- and 13-yearolds summed up the phenomenon in their own words.

Gigi MacCauley, 12, said: “It was amazing – you could see a very thin slit of the sun. It looked like the sun was being eaten.”

Tilly Sutherland, 12, said: “We could see it really well – there was like a thin crescent in the sun. It was really cool.

“We got to miss PE as well – and the eclipse was a lot better.”

Ellen Macrae, also 12, said: “I was running around like mad last night making sure I had my colander ready.

“I looked at it through one of the boxes and the view was awesome.”

In the library beforehand, the girls were run through the various safe ways in which they could catch a glimpse of the eclipse.

The household colander was finally getting its day in the sun as the schoolgirls were shown how to use it to project images of the eclipse on to large sheets of paper.

Oxford Mail:

Oxford High School pupils Elizabeth Neild, front, and back, left to right, Eleanor Tomkins, Tegan Perry and Tilly Sutherland with special glasses and pinhole cameras to see the eclipse.

Deputy headteacher Peter Secker said: “There were cardboard boxes piled high in the library just beforehand and I love the idea of the colanders.

“It was fantastic to see their excitement.

“I think they will remember it for a long, long time.

Science teacher Maria Whittington said: “Having just finished their module, it was great that they could get out there and experience the physics behind it all.

“They had an absolute blast.

“When the next one comes around I hope they will remember this and all grab their colanders and run out of their workplace, wherever that may be.”