This song was written for the opening of a new school building at Grangetown Primary School in Sunderland. It compares the new school to other famous buildings around the world. I will include here the readings we had at the opening ceremony as these explain all the connections. In the original ceremony the school’s classes inserted performances of other songs, dances and displays in amongst the readings to illustrate and reinforce the point being made in each reading.

The song has been successfully transferred to several other schools with some buildings being replaced, away from the Sunderland-centric selection of the original.

Building 1: Taj Mahal, Agra, India

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India was built by the Mughal leader Shah Jahan in the 17^th century as a monument to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, whom he loved very much. The Taj Mahal is the most famous of the many exquisite buildings created by Shah Jahan and his architects. Mumtaz Mahal was buried inside the Taj Mahal and for the rest of his life, whenever Shah Jahan saw the beautiful mausoleum, he was reminded of his wife. After he died he was eventually buried there too, beside Mumtaz Mahal.

Our school is like the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Although the old building of Grangetown Primary School was striking and most of us enjoyed working there for several years, it was starting to fall apart and become unsuitable as a school. Because our families and our community loved us and cared so much for us, they decided to build us a brand new school. The Taj Mahal was built because of the love Shah Jahan had for his wife. Our new school was built because of the love our families have for us. This is why our school is like the Taj Mahal.

When we come to school every day we see our friends here. We will have some of these friends for the rest of our lives. The love of our friends is one of the most precious parts of our school lives. Our new school is full of the love of our friends.

We spend a lot of time and do a lot of activities in our new school. We will respect and care for it while we are here so that the children of tomorrow will be able to enjoy the building as we do.

Building 2 – Westminster Abbey, London, England

Westminster Abbey in London is over 900 years old. The first church on that site was part of a monastery founded by the English king, Edward the Confessor in 1065. Some of that building still remains, although most of the current Abbey was started during the reign of Henry III in the 13^th century. Westminster Abbey is a huge church, which has been used for the coronations of almost every monarch since William the Conqueror, and has seen many royal funerals and weddings, as well as other important national events and celebrations. It is mainly a place of worship, a place of God with services, prayer and hymns.

Our new school is like Westminster Abbey. We gather together here for assemblies when we honour each other’s achievements, when we pray and sing hymns, when we learn and think about the messages in our stories and readings. We invite Father Collins and other important visitors here to talk to us. We come together here in the hall to celebrate special occasions. This is why our new school is like Westminster Abbey.

Building 3 – Monastery of St. Peter, Wearmouth, England

In the middle of the 7^th century, a wealthy nobleman from the north-east of England, Benedict Biscop decided to change jobs and become a monk. He had been impressed with the religious community at Lindisfarne Island, but he wanted to learn about God, faith and the church for himself, so used some of his money to go to Rome and other holy places to study. After a couple of years he returned to England and decided to set up his own monastery and was given land by the King of Northumbria on the mouth of the River Wear.

Benedict Biscop wanted his monastery to be as impressive as the great buildings he had seen in Rome, so instead of building his church from wood like the local villagers used, he paid for stone masons and special window-makers from Europe to come and work for him.

His monastery, St. Peters’ in Wearmouth (or Monkwearmouth), eventually had over 200 monks living there. One of their main jobs was to educate the people who lived in the villages around their monastery. The monks (including the young St. Bede) also studied hard themselves, and learned from special teachers brought by Benedict from Rome. Benedict was very enthusiastic and was always trying to learn new things, and make his monastery better.

Our new school is like St. Benedict Biscop’s monastery. We come here to learn as much as we can while we’re here. We’re not satisfied with the things we already know – we are enthusiastic to find out and experience more. Our teachers have studied in universities all over the country with experts in many subjects, and have chosen the students of Grangetown School in Sunderland to share their skills and knowledge with. This is why our school is like St. Benedict Biscop’s Monastery at Wearmouth.

Building 4: The Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England

The Stadium of light is the home of Sunderland Football Club. It is such a brilliant stadium that England have played there. It replaced Sunderland’s old ground at Roker Park in 1997. Roker Park was a great place to play football, but just like our old school it was starting to fall apart and a new stadium was needed. When teams come to play at the Stadium of Light they have trained hard, they have honed their skills, and they strive to put in the best effort they can for their team.

Our new school is like The Stadium Of Light. We play lots of different sports here – in the hall and outside. We put in a lot of effort to make ourselves better at all the sports we try. We endeavour to do well for our teams – in class, for our house, and for our school. We also help our team mates to do their best in all our activities at school. This is why our school is like the Stadium Of Light.

Building 5: Louvre Museum, Paris, France

The Louvre Museum in Paris is one of the most famous art galleries in the world. It started life as a castle in the 13^th century, and some of the foundations of this castle are still there today. Most of the more palace-like Louvre of today was built from the 16^th to the 19^th centuries with different Kings of France adding extra bits at different times. The latest bit to be added was in the late 1980s when a glass and steel pyramid structure was added as a new entrance. When the architect Pei’s design was first constructed it caused a lot of trouble and fuss because people said it didn’t fit in with the styles of the rest of the Museum, but now it is very popular as well as being very striking.

The Louvre today holds some of the most famous paintings and sculptures in the world and is huge – it is almost impossible to see everything in one day.

Our new school is like the Louvre Museum. We put our work on display in our classrooms and our corridors. We study the works of famous artists and of our classmates and they inspire us to create new artistic images of our own. Our school is filled with colour and shape and is a place of beauty. This is why our school is like the Louvre Museum.

Building 6: Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

The Opera House in Sydney, Australia was built in the 1960s and sticks out into Sydney Harbour like lots of yachts with their sails blowing in the wind. It is one of the most famous and easily recognisable buildings in the world, and is one of the two main symbols of Sydney. The other is the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is inspired by the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Inside the Opera House there are a few different concert halls where exceptional musicians of all types from all over the world perform to huge audiences.

Our new school is like the Sydney Opera House. We sing and play instruments and make up our own music in our classes, and we always have lots of music in our celebrations and assemblies. We have a huge hall where we perform to each other and to audiences of our friends and families. This is why our school is like the Sydney Opera House.

Building 7: CN Tower, Toronto, Canada

The CN Tower, built in 1976 by Canadian National in Toronto, Canada, is one of the world’s tallest buildings. It is just over 533 metres tall and has 1760 steps. On one day every year the Tower holds a Charity Step Climb when it opens up all the steps to the public for anyone to climb. The fastest climb up the stairs is 7 minutes, 52 seconds. There are several lookouts as you go up the tower, from the top one, at over 400 metres, you can see for miles and miles.

The lookout places on the CN tower are designed for looking outward to the world beyond the tower itself. The higher you go, the further you see. Our school is like the CN Tower. It is easy to look in at ourselves and our school and see all the great things we have here and be contented with what we are doing and where we are. But it is harder to look out at the world and imagine the things we don’t know anything about, things we’ve never seen, things we might have a go at. Our school helps us to imagine those places, helps us to look beyond what we know, helps us to dream and achieve beyond the horizon. It helps us to look to our futures and both appreciate the wonderful blessings we have already and to aspire to greater rewards.

St. Benedict Biscop understood this when he went away from this area to study, and found new ideas, brought them back and passed them on with some ideas of his own to his monks and the villagers, farmers and fishermen at Wearmouth. This is why our school is like the CN Tower.

Building 8: Local Buildings

Buildings are an important part of our local area. Here are some of our favourite local buildings:………These buildings are important to us. They are part of our community, and part of our personal history.

Our school is like all of these buildings. It is a part of us. When we head off towards and beyond the horizon in search of new ideas and experiences, we will look back on this school, and our other local buildings as a reminder of our home, as a reminder of our childhood. Already we look back like this on the old school. Some of us remember when there were floods, and gas leaks and climbing stairs and watching this new building take shape. This is why our new school is like all these other local buildings.

Building 9: The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt

A pyramid is a three dimensional shape which has a flat base and three or more other equal faces rising to a point over the centre of the base. Many ancient civilisations thought that pyramids were such cool shapes that they built huge ones of stone. There are lots in South-east Asia and in South America, but the most famous stone pyramids are those built by the Egyptian pharaohs, and most famous of these is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was built as a tomb for the Pharaoh King Khufu. Inside the pyramid would have been treasures and food and other things to remind him of his greatness and to help him on his way to the next world, as the Egyptians believed. The pyramid itself is a massive reminder to everyone, of the Pharaoh and all that he achieved, and has inspired visitors for thousands of years since.

Our school is like the great pyramid of Giza. We fill it up with reminders of ourselves – our work, our songs, our art and our photos, and when we leave this school and move on, a small part of us will remain here in these things and in the memories of those who are left. When we go, we take from the school too – all the learning we have done, our friendships, the ideas inspired by our experiences here, our own memories. And this building itself will be here for many more generations of students and staff to use and enjoy, and we will be able to say that we were the first to use it. This is why our school is like the Great Pyramid at Giza.