Sheffield's Pipworth Community Primary School celebrating 90th anniversary

Pipworth Community Primary School on Pipworth Road on the Manor estate was officially opened on Thursday, October 3,1929, although it was actually open in 1928.

It was originally known as Pipworth Road School and included a senior department.

Later it became a separate infants and junior school that later amalgamated and took the current name.

The school was opened by the president of the board of education, Sir Charles P Trevelyan MP, and the Lord Mayor, Alderman Harry Bolton.

Senior teaching assistant Dawn Robertshaw is helping to organise the celebrations.

Her father went to Pipworth, she attended in the 1970s and both her children went to the school.

She said: “I started working at Pipworth when my daughter was in nursery, 25 years ago. I also was born and live on the Manor so, as you can imagine, the school is very dear to me.”

Lord Mayor of Sheffield Coun Tony Downing will arrive at the school in the morning in time to watch a special assembly and speak to the children.

He will recreate the official opening in the quads by cutting a ribbon at the sundial, as the VIPs did in 1929.

Then the school council will give the lord mayor and his wife a tour of the school, followed by tea and cakes with senior management, the school council, governors and members of the PTA.

In the afternoon there will be various displays in the hall - one from each year group, who are each researching a particular decade.

The year groups will dress up in costumes of the time for the day.

Dawn said: “I am collecting memories and photos from past pupils to produce a display and we are celebrating the success of our past pupils by displaying their pictures, along with the career path they have taken.”

She has also been researching at Sheffield archives and got a copy of the official opening brochure and copied down some of the entries in the headteacher’s journal from 1929.

Dawn continued: “We are opening our school to past pupils from 1.30pm to 2.30pm to come in and meet our children, take a look how much the school has changed and to look at our celebration displays.”

To find out more information, email Dawn at [email protected]

She said: “I would love people to get in touch if they are willing to give me their memories of their time at Pipworth and have any photos I could use. Refreshments will be available for our visitors too.”

Each child is going to decorate a pebble, as a 90th anniversary is represented by stone, which will later be incorporated into the grounds by architectural students.