PAST and present pupils and staff from a Barrow primary and nursery school have relived fond memories after they attended the school 50th birthday celebrations.

Dane Ghyll community primary school and nursery, on Skelwith drive, celebrated 50 golden years with an invitation to all past and present pupils and staff.

The day saw attendees have a tour of the grounds by year six pupils to see how the school has evolved over the last 50 years and in the evening people had the chance to chat to like-minded people, pupils, and staff over a glass of wine and a plate of pie and peas as well as reminiscing over old photographs and events with a special performance from the school choir.

Current headteacher Peter Mills is the fifth headteacher since the school opened back in 1971. He thanked everyone for returning and supporting the school.

He said: "Everyone will have different memories from their time at Dane Ghyll whether as a staff member or a pupil. 

"They will all be from different eras of the school and will all have so many different anecdotes about the teachers they loved, the ones they hated, the school trips and the things that have shaped their life.

"Memories so powerful and important to them –that they felt drawn to come back tonight.

"Your school life creates the foundation and often direction and trajectory of the rest of our lives. And I imagine many of who attended h feel fortunate to have been part of the Dane Ghyll family.

"Many things don’t change in schools, there are things that transcend the year, bells, assemblies – being desperate to get to year six to finally sit on a bench in assembly, uniforms, the excitement of getting on the field, sports day, school shows, all these have all timeless school traditions that will exist in another 50 years."

Mr Mills discussed the values and ethos of Dane Ghyll and how he feels proud to be part of the family.

He said: "Education in 2022 is a lot different to education 10, 15, 20 years ago. Education at Dane Ghyll in 2022 is based around the following principle: ‘The Whole Child is the Whole Point’.

"We have worked incredible hard in the last five years in making significant changes to Dane Ghyll. The most significant change being our change in name and extension of age range.

"We are now Dane Ghyll Community Primary School and Nursery. We have extended our age range and now other education from two years upward meaning children can be part of the DG family from age two – 11 and spend nine years in our care.

"We believe we excel at educating children socially, morally, spiritually and physically and because of this expansion we now have 273 children on roll and over 40 staff."