I have spent my career in education, most recently as headteacher of a large secondary school. I have worked also as a freelance journalist, author, lecturer, presenter and trainer. My involvement in the subject of my talk came about because, while I was headteacher, we made two remarkable discoveries which gave us 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.