Thanks Renato, Xelasnave and Regulus for your welcome.
I've been lucky in that the school has also sprung for a second 6" scope and half a dozen binoculars. Our first monthly night session is in October and we should have another 2 or 3 scopes there as well. I'm looking at about 50 students interested at this stage. We're going to start the session with Mars and Saturn then by finding the various constellations, starting with Scorpio and the Southern Cross, before looking at some double stars, Open Clusters, Globular Clusters and maybe the Silver Coin Galaxy.
That should do it for one evening - it takes a bit of time to get eyes in front of eyepieces and yet have enough to keep those not looking through the scope interested. I will definitely encourage the students to bring their own binoculars and equipment.
Previously, we have only had a small 75mm 'firstscope' I was given as a present a few years back. Still, with that (and a solar filter on front), I have shown students a couple of partial solar eclipses and in spite of the clouds, managed to show around 200 kids the last transit of Venus. So having a real scope is just marvellous.
I have just got back from my first night at a dark site (since starting up again, that is) which was a mixed blessing. A blessing because I had a clear night, and mixed because it was a family trip and the scope didn't come with me! (my wife preferred to take the children instead
). Still, I used my father's birdwatching scope to good effect, seeing Centaurus A, comet Okumaiden and the tarantula nebula for the first time.
Cheers, Mike