Video and pictures: Celebration ahead of final bell at Telford school
[gallery] A day of celebration was held to mark more than 80 years of life at a school in Telford – a month before it is due to shut its doors for good.
Hundreds of past and present pupils and staff turned out for the event at Wrockwardine Wood Arts Academy, which took place at the school in New Road.
The doors were thrown open for people to have a look round, while current staff led tours of the site for one final time before the bulldozers move in to reduce it to rubble. A school first opened on the site in 1933 and it has steadily grown in size over the years, with more than 600 pupils now on the roll.
Past pupils include former Telford MP David Wright, who was guest of honour two years ago when the school held a special 80th anniversary event.
Joyce Rowding, from Donnington, was also given the VIP treatment at the anniversary get-together. At the time the 88-year-old, who started there in 1936, was believed to be the oldest surviving pupil of the school.
The building is set to be demolished at the end of the current summer term in July, with pupils moving to a new purpose-built site next to the leisure centre in Oakengates as part of a merger with Sutherland Co-Operative Academy.
Liv Bradbury, assistant principal at the academy, is one of the longest serving members of staff still at the school, having taught there for the past 21 years.
She said: "We wanted to open up the school for one more time, to give the community the opportunity to have one final look around. So many generations have passed through our gates. We have pupils here now whose great grandparents were also former students at the school.
"The building is going to be razed to the ground in a couple of weeks. Yet we know it will carry so many happy memories for so many people, many of whom continued to live in the local community after they left.
"So we wanted to open the doors for one final time, to give those people the chance to come and have one last look around their old classroom."
Over the past two years the school has been compiling a history of the site and former pupils can still share their pictures or stories.
For more on the history of the school or to share memories log on to www.wrockwardinewoodartsacademy.com/80years
