Whilst Mary was headteacher at a large secondary school two remarkable discoveries were made which gave a vivid, fascinating and unusual insight into school life in WW2. One of these was the uncovering of an extensive set of tunnels used as underground classrooms, and the other was the discovery of an exquisite set of paintings of wartime schooling created by an art teacher as the war unfolded. My talk tells the story of wartime school life using these unique and intriguing paintings.