PICTURES: Cirencester Deer Park School celebrates 50 years of comprehensive education in the town

On Wednesday, October 12, staff from each faculty dressed up as teachers in different decades, giving pupils a flavour of what learning was liked in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

Overhead projectors were dusted off and plugged back in as a part of the 1990s theme for the Humanities faculty and mechanical hand held slide projectors were used in computing to reflect the technology of the 1980s.

An evening reception also welcomed former pupils and staff back to the school.

(Headteacher Chiquita Henson and assistant head James Johnson)

Headteacher of Deer Park School, Chiquita Henson, said: “I was especially delighted to welcome so many former pupils, parents, staff, governors and our friends in the community back to the school.

“It was good to mark all that is good about comprehensive education. It was lovely to listen to our guests’ personal recollections and to learn of their professional development.”

(Julia Harvey, Cirencester Deer Park School assistant head James Johnson, Cosmos the golden retriever puppy, and Myra Bye)

School assistant head James Johnson welcomed former pupils with the presence of Cosmos the school’s golden retriever puppy.

He said: “I think the anniversary is a real positive in the media. There is a lot of talk about selective education, and today shows what comprehensive education can do.”

Frank Perkins who taught at the school from the 1970s and who was appointed the first head of design, said: “I’m happy to have survived this long. The buildings have changed. Now, there are more opportunities for kids when they leave school. Kids back then did not have a clue what they would be doing.”

More than 20 former pupils who joined Deer Park School in the ‘first form’ in 1966 were welcomed at the evening.

Shirley Bond (pictured above, front row, left), now a retired teacher who taught at Stratton School was one of the first pupils at Deer Park School.

She recalled a fashion show where everyone had to wear paper dresses as part of a ‘disposable dresses’ theme. She and her friends from school also fondly recalled the time when they used to roll their skorts over.

She said: “We used to have our skorts measured in the morning because mini skirts were in. We were not allowed four inches above the knee.”

The school also welcomed back David Crossley (pictured above), head of Cirencester Deer Park School from 1991 to 1997, who received his first headship at the school.

He said: “I was 33, I was the youngest head at the time. One of the things continuing at the school is confidence to do things differently, to be bold, that sense of adventure.”

David, who now lives in Dorset and works as an education consultant, said: “I came to the school in 1989. When I was here, we were celebrating the 25th anniversary.

“I feel the continuity at the school. When I was appointed, the school was about doing the best for children in the town.

“There is something special here. It is a mixture of things to do with the culture, aspirations, the sense of confidence. And how pupils treat others and work as a team.”