We were delighted to welcome the descendants of some of our former pupils earlier this week.

Family members from the Lejeune and Enke family trees visited Lady Barn House School from their homes across the world, in Australia, Canada and the USA.

It was our pleasure to show them the archive material we have, relating to Lady Barn House School in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and to find the family's ancestors among the records.

There were some real treasures revealed, particularly when it came to young Russell Lejeune. It sounds as though he would have needed to be reminded of Barney's Behaviour Code quite a bit!

"Conduct - Troubled with bad fits of obstinacy. He has put down wrong work purposely, sometimes. It is quite time that he becomes more trustworthy in every way." 1893

We found that Caroline Lejeune was one of the editors of the Lady Barn Gazette, a forerunner of School Days. These beautiful, handwritten books date from the early 1900s and include stunning paintings and sketches by the children, along with accounts of school life and the wider world. Caroline became a renowned writer and film critic in later life so it was a delight to find one of her early stories within one of the books we found.

We also learned more about the School and its early pupils from the family's visit; it was a real joy to delve into the past with them.

Black and white photograph: The Lejeune children (excluding Caroline) c. 1893: (left to right) Helene; Russell; Franziska; Marion; Arnold; Alick; Juliet.

Helene and Juliet also taught at Lady Barn House School for a period of time.