PUPILS, parents and teachers at Bere Alston Primary School dressed up in clothing from various eras to celebrate the building's 350th anniversary.

One of the oldest schools in the South West, Bere Alston Primary was purpose built in 1665 by Sir John Maynard — Lord of the Manor and Member of Parliament for Bere Alston. He was a lawyer and a politician and had a life-long interest in education. He set up an endowment fund to provide for both the annual rent of the school building and to provide a salary for the schoolmaster. The school was to be 'for the education of eight free scholars' who should be taught reading, writing and arithmetic free from all charge and expense.

Three hundred and fifty years later and the school, although now larger than the original, is still going strong with nearly 200 pupils running through its corridors every day.

To celebrate the milestone anniversary, pupils from each of the seven classrooms dressed up in clothes from different eras from the school's life and researched different parts of the school's history. There was a fairground on the premises with a bouncy castle, hog roast and Morris dancers, entertaining the crowds of parents and grandparents who attended.

In the main hall was an exhibition, giving the history of the building and a range of memorabilia, including videos, photos and stories from past pupils and villagers about the school. The oldest photo in the display dated back to 1898.

They were also visited by the oldest living former pupil, Sydney Williams, who is 99 and still lives in the village.

PA to the headteacher Maria Outram said: 'The kids have been so over excited about this event, which is really nice. They've really enjoyed researching different parts of the history and now they keep saying they don't know what they are going to do next without this event to look forward to!

'We have such a great community here. We have two teachers Vicky Grey and Mark Warren who both came to the school and now teach here and have seen a huge amount of different generations of families. A lot of pupils grow up, move away and then come back here when they have children of their own.'

Addressing everyone at the event, headteacher Kim Wild said: 'This event is not so much about the building, but about the people and the children and all their memories and sharing those memories with everyone.

'Today wouldn't have happened without the help of lots of people who have worked really hard.'

The celebratory afternoon was kicked off with all the pupils at the school singing a new school anthem about the school's history, written by two teachers and performed for the first time.