When the doors of Moreton Green First School closed on Wednesday, school wasn't just out for summer.

After 71 years they were closing for the last time.

The school opened in the summer of 1931 as Merton and St. Helier No. 3 Infant Council School.

Miss A. Williamson was the head teacher supported by a team of three supply teachers.

It is not the first time that the school has had to shut.

On the fourth of September, 1939, a note on the school premises read: "Owing to the outbreak of war this school did not open today."

During the war, opening times were sporadic, with children sometimes needing to come in to school once every three-quarters of an hour to be issued with homework and have previous homework marked.

Thankfully, it is not war locking the school gates this year. In the 1998/9 academic year the decision was made to close the school as part of the Age of Transfer scheme, which is bringing in the two-tier system across the borough.

Head teacher Ms Francis Churchward said: "It will be an unhappy day but also the start of a new life for all of us."

Bishopsford Community School, which is adjacent to Moreton Green First, will be expanding onto the premises.

The school's administrative officer, Julia Nation, composed this valedictory poem:

Schools may come and schools may go

But for all that attend they will know

The fun they had, the tears they shed

What they felt when closure went ahead

But even though the buildings are surrendered

No one can erase what is

remembered

And for all that was and all that has been

No one will ever forget Moreton Green.

July 17, 2002 12:00