IT WAS a day of memories – newly made and those made in a past – for a Woodley school as it celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Originally Waingels Copse, the school in Waingels Road held a party with special guests, alumni, past headteachers and present day pupils and their families.
Among them were two MPs – Maidenhead MP Theresa May, and former pupil Charlotte Nicholls, who now represents Warrington North.
Mrs May opened the school’s new 3G pitch and even had a go at scoring a goal herself.
She also unveiled a plaque detailing her presence at the school on its anniversary.
In a speech, she said: “It’s a great pleasure to be able to join everybody here for this celebration of Waingels, and for this launch of the next 50 years, which I’m sure is going to be fantastic.”
She added: “I want to say a huge thank you to staff and to the governors… There are two particular times when I have see the staff and the community of Waingels come together in difficult circumstances.
“The first was when the new school was being built and everyone had to work their way around the building work, but the quality of education did not suffer.
“More recently, during the pandemic, when the staff and the whole community of Waingels, made sure the quality of education was maintained.”
And headteacher Tom Bartlett explained more in his speech.
First, he paused to remember Richard Jewitt, a languages teacher who had passed away after a short illness.
“He will be fondly remembered by all of his colleagues and the many students he taught in his 16 years in the languages department,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
He pledged the school would honour the teacher in due course.
Then, he reflected on the school’s journey, from being an open plan school when it opened in 1971, to switching to traditional classrooms in the 1990s, before the rebuild in 2010.
“Since then, we’ve added a few walls and doors as the nature of the curriculum has changes back from a skills-based to a more knowledge base,” he said.
“In light of this constant change, how is it that throughout its 50 years, Waingels has been one of the highest performing schools, always in in the top 20% of schools nationally? Without doubt, a large part of that is down to the thousands of highly motivated, hardworking, ambitious young people who have passed through these classrooms; it has also been down to the teachers and support staff, our school’s greatest resource.”
Mr Bartlett added that there had been just six headteachers during its 50 years, but it would get its seventh in September as he was to become the head of a new academy trust which encompasses 10 schools.
Lindsey Humber will step up from her role as interim head of school to become the new headteacher in the autumn.
