Former staff bemoan the loss of name as Beaucamps is 60
SIXTY years of Les Beaucamps School has been celebrated by pupils and staff, past and the present.
They gathered in the school hall yesterday to share memories and look at memorabilia spanning back to when the school first opened its doors in 1959.
There was a large collection of memorabilia on show, including photographs of Princess Margaret, who opened it officially on 4 May, and the original programme of events from the day.
Several former teachers had travelled from the UK.
Claire Mahy, who taught English, had made the journey from near Chichester.
‘I was here from 1969 to 1974, I had a different name in those days, and then I came back here in 1995 until 2004,’ she said.
‘So I started out life here and I finished here, it was my last job before retirement.
‘This school has a special place in my heart, I loved it here it was always such a good atmosphere, always very positive.
‘The facilities weren’t much good at the time, but you couldn’t have worked with a nicer group of people and it always kept its ethos.’
Mrs Mahy added that she had enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
‘I still know quite a lot of the people here and I was hoping to meet up with some of the ex-students, the ones who have got good memories,’ she said.
Deputy head teacher from 1992 until 2009, Andy Beardsell said that he enjoyed his time there and would not have wanted to be at any other establishment.
‘I have come today because there is going to be changes with the new two school model and obviously the name will change, unfortunately,’ he said.
‘So I have come back to see old faces and just to check out the memorabilia.
‘I have seen some great things that I had forgotten about, whoever put it together has done a really good job and they have spanned a very long time.’
During the day pupils put on performances of dance and song for the visitors and showed people around the new school building.
Former head of maths Jane Allen said it was a shame that the name of the school would be lost after 60 years.
‘It would be nice if they could find a way to keep that connection somehow,’ she said.
‘I first started working here in 1978 and it is certainly lovely to see old students arriving here that tend to remember me more than I remember them, because obviously since then I have seen hundreds and thousands of students,’ she said.
‘But it is nice that they say: “Oh hello, Miss Gallienne” which was my previous name, but as I have been married for 30 years I know that they remember me from before that time.’
