PUPILS past and present are reflecting on bygone days as part of a school’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School is calling on past pupils, staff and parents to come to a reunion next month.

The school, which opened in 1969, has also created a special garden to celebrate its ruby anniversary.

Past pupils planted roses in the new Ruby Garden sanctuary, which was opened by Fr Liam Slattery on Wednesday.

Mum-of-three Anna-Maria Rouse, 41, of Upper Stratton, attended the garden opening.

She started at St Catherine’s in 1972 and all her children attended the school, with nine-year-old daughter Evangeline still there.

She said: “The school has gone through a lot of changes but the focus on family, the Catholic faith, bringing children up in the right way and academia has not changed. There have been three strong headteachers, including Mr Kennedy and currently Brenda Martin, who have brought the school through that period.”

Teacher Rosalind Brock said: “It was lovely to have them come back and plant the rose bushes. It is an outside sanctuary and the children absolutely love it. It is a real refuge.”

Wind chimes, a water fountain and paving are part of the garden’s features, which lies in the school’s field.

Parents donated money which was used to buy the plants.

“We have quite a few pupils and families that have stayed over the years,” said Mrs Brock.

“There is a family feeling at St Catherine’s.”

The school has remained in the same building in Davenwood, Upper Stratton, since it was founded, but an extension has been added.

Black and white photographs of children from 1976 to 1989 have been posted on the school’s website.

“The current children love looking at the photographs and saying: ‘That is my mum’,” said Mrs Brock.

The school is also asking pupils and staff to express their memories in a drawing or sketch and send it to the headteacher.

Sports days, sponsored walks, Holy Communion and a staff performance of Cinderella are some of the happy memories being recalled, said Mrs Brock.

“One of the girls said her favourite memory was her first day at school,” she said.

The reunion will take place on Wednesday, November 11, at 7pm at St Mary’s Church, Tovey Road, with a buffet at the school afterwards.