In the 28 years I worked there
I first worked at St Thomas First School in 1989 as the school secretary and by the time I left in 2017 I was the senior administrator and the school was now St. Thomas Primary School.
In the 28 years I worked there I had three headteachers, two of which Caroline Jones and David Pugh are both sadly no longer with us. They both used to say St. Thomas was a special school, although in the town it had the feel of a village school.
There were many teaching staff I’m sure many past pupils remember from 1980/1990s Mr. Salter, Mrs Coombes, Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Price, Mrs. Tye, Mrs. Bowie, Mrs. West, Mrs. Peel, Miss Tapper, Miss. Pollock, Mrs. Thorpe, Miss. Bartlett. The classroom assistants Mrs. Foord, Mrs. Hitchings, Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Blackmore, Mrs Larkin. The ladies in the kitchen, Mrs. Black and Mrs. Galliford. The MTAs Mrs. Elliott, Mrs. Fellows, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Partridge,Mrs Dawe, Mrs Greenaway and who can forget the caretaker Mrs Bell.
We always had an annual flower show and Easter Egg competition as well as the carnival float. In those days we had a spare classroom and that would be used to create the float with PTA members coming in daily to paint the boards for the floats and every year we won a prize.
I’m sure many will remember Mr. Blackmore (Blackie) the Chair of Governors who was always Father Christmas at the end of term. Not to mention David Pugh’s legendary Xmas nativity productions and his annual soaking in the stocks at the Summer Fayre.
I also remember the sticker cards with a little clown on saying “Mr. Pugh says well done” and the que we would have every Friday morning when the children came to the office to collect them.
I got to know many families over the years which was one of the best things about the job and by the time I left I was admitting grandchildren of families that I’d admitted the children of 28 years before.
Sue Ferris