FORMER pupils and staff at Woodloes Primary School in Warwick are invited to mark its 40th birthday.
A Nostalgic Evening is being held at The Woodloes Tavern – called The Sarah Siddons when the school opened – on Saturday December 17 from 6.30pm.
Landlord, Martin Goode, himself a former pupil, is inviting people to bring their old school photos, certificates, sporting medals and trophies, school reports, uniforms, concert programmes and videos – and anything else that brings back memories of their time at the school.
The Deansway school actually opened as two schools on September 1 at the tail end of the 1976 sumemr heatwave.
Primary education in Warwickshire was reorganised into First and Middle schools, with pupils starting secondary school at the age of 12 – the current year 8 – and Woodloes was at the forefront of the new system.
The schools were built on adjacent sites with a shared field – one of the largest in the county. The schools also housed Woodloes Community Centre, and were also home to the local church and the newly formed 7th Warwick (Woodloes) Scout Group.
Both schools were at the centre of community life, with summer and Christmas fairs, bonfire events, and sports activities.
The two schools became Infants and Juniors in 1996 then merged into a single Primary School in 2010, adding Ridgeway Special School onto the site.
Woodloes Park was the first large housing estate in Warwick – built on former farm land. When the schools opened much of the development was still a building site, with many of the roads not even built. The estate was planned round the central hub of the community – shops, pub and two schools.
Over the past four decades, with an average intake of between 60 and 90 pupils per year, the schools have served over 3,000 pupils.
The school has celebrated many very positive achievements down the years, and has featured in the local press many times for sport, music, art and in the life of the town and community.
There was one notable low point, when a fire on the last night of term in July 1980 gutted a new extension.
Entry to the Nostalgic Evening is free. For more information, text 07896 594046 – start message with WPS40.
