School celebrates 175th anniversary

Lisa Bernard, head teacher at Clifton-upon-Dunsmore primary school, said the school would be remembering its history

A primary school in Warwickshire is celebrating its 175th anniversary.

Students from Clifton-upon-Dunsmore Primary School, near Rugby, are marking the day it was founded in 1850 by dressing up in outfits from each era in its history.

The Bishop of Coventry and Mayor of Rugby are also attending the school on Tuesday to hold a special service.

"We've found log books that date back to the 1860s. It goes all the way through the war years, which is so fascinating to read," head teacher Lisa Bernard said.

"They [pupils] are studying what life was like for a child at Clifton primary school during those years, what life was like in Rugby and the world beyond.

"We've been looking through our archives and we found some amazing pictures of what the school was like and found photographs of the children in years gone by."

The school's oldest logbook dates back to 1886

She said the school was also remembering some of the current crop of parents, who had attended themselves when they were young.

The oldest log book, which dates back to 1886, lists the teachers and head teachers that worked at the school - and even the inspectors who visited that year. They also details absences.

"One log said they had gone to pick potatoes because we're a farming community around here. So the school was closed for the potatoes," Ms Bernard said.

Another entry detailed how the children gathered around the boilers in their classrooms when snow fell.