A Harold Hill school celebrated its 60th birthday with a special guest.

Broadford Primary launched its celebrations with former pupil Shirley Hill, who attended the school in 1952.

Formerly known as Miss Ellis, the special guest had very clear memories of her first weeks at Broadford.

“My teacher was a very kind man called Mr Lazarus. To this very day I remember that I used to really enjoy arithmetic lessons, but I think you refer to it as maths now.”

Although plenty of the school has changed - especially the state of the art new building which opened in October last year - the children were fascinated to hear how many things were still the same for Shirley. Shown round by the Year 6 pupils, she said: “We used to sit at tables like yours, and the uniform was the same colour. School dinners included delicious puddings and we all looked forward to playtime!”

Without a doubt the children loved having their guest visit and share her memories of the school. Shirley had a good look round, cut the birthday cake, opened the week in the birthday assembly and then had an interview with the pupils for their blog.

Once the cake had been cut, it was delivered to all the classes so that every pupil had a piece. Later in the week there was a school disco, a dress up day and a party entertainer - Potty Patrick. Pupils have really made the most of the celebrations and have wished Broadford a happy 60th birthday.

Headteacher Malcolm Drakes said: “It was so nice to have the chance to meet one of the original pupils and show her how the school has changed, but also still has the same values -hard work, plenty of rewards, and luckily for Mrs Hill, plenty of maths lessons!”