Fourth class pupils walked up to Stanley Hill behind our school last week. The trip came after the class had read Francis Ledwidge's poem "Stanley Hill" about his childhood memories of the hill, while fighting during World War I. We looked at digital maps of Stanley Hill today and how it has changed from the past.With jackets and a change of footwear all ready, the class walked by the back of the school site, over gates, through mucky gaps and barbed wire fences and then made the steep climb to the top of the Hill. The pupils all spoke about one thing they noticed while looking back at the village of Slane, as well as finding wildflowers and signs of spring. Yellow gorse was just starting to bloom and two seagulls chased a buzzard across the sky. The pupils then had some tome to explore the hill before we returned home. They are now writing their own Stanley Hill poems.Many thanks to the landowner of Stanley Hill for giving us permission to travel on his land.