We do various activities in the afternoons, not formal lessons. Wandering around the plantation in the rain it is apparent that there is plenty of clay so I thought a suitable activity would be a little modelling and beads came to mind so we had a very messy afternoon making beads and buttons along with various other creations, some of which were very fine considering the quality of the clay.
I thought we would try to fire them in the ashes of a hot fire, so I sent the students out to collect wood and stack to dry. Then I spotted some bricks, so got them to transport them to the school to build a rocket stove. You don't need the science, save to say that it comprises an elbow chamber to create enough draft to ensure secondary combustion of the waste gases, thus burning the fuel hotter and more efficiently, see I told you you didn't need the science.
So we piled the bricks accordingly (who needs lego) and then plastered the outside with yet more messy clay. Left it for a day to dry out, should have have left it longer in this humidity and then guess what, we made a fire, and it worked! 
Could I do this in a uk primary school? I would still be doing the risk assesment. These kids know what they are doing, the only one who got burnt was me as I got hold of the wrong end of a burning stick! However, they seem to have asbestos fingers as they couldn't wait to put their models on top of the stove to fire and then take them off to check how they were 'cooking'!
It remains to be seen what the end product will be, many refinements will be required, so much more fun to be had
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