In conjunction with our Centenary celebrations this year, we invited a large group of alumni into school to hold a reunion. The class of 1973 enjoyed reminiscing and visiting the site after leaving Purbrook Park School more than 50 years ago...

Please find below an open letter of thanks from the organiser, Cass Castello from the class of 1973.

If you are in year 11 at the school, I wonder what you will be doing in fifty years’ time?

Fifty years ago, last year, I left Purbrook Park School – but on a Saturday last month I was back, with 26 others from my year, for a reunion. We met in the dining room and immediately started to chat. Well, it wasn’t always immediate, because sometimes we first had to work out who we were talking to: people can change a lot in how they look after all those years!

We had lunch together and there were photos, including a giant version of the 1972 whole school photo, music from our time at the school and print-offs of memories that we had sent to the organisers before the day. Three former teachers were there, too, and it was great to hear their recollections of being at the school and teaching us – and good to be able to thank them for all they had done for us as students.

Then came a highlight of our visit: a tour of the school buildings. The Headteacher, Mr Foxley had very kindly given permission for us to look around the school, and Mrs Moore, PA to the Headteacher and Mr Radford, Site Manager had made it happen for us. Of course, there are many parts of the school that have not changed: I’m convinced that the doors to my very first classroom are the same ones that we had then! We enjoyed being in familiar rooms again and remembering the things we had done in them. But we were also really impressed with some of the new rooms you have – for example, the drama studio and the music production room.

I was especially envious of two rooms. The first was the room full of computers - which is the brand new Centenary Study Centre which was opened as part of the centenary celebrations in July this year. I loved my work career as a software engineer, and I first learnt to program at Purbrook. But all that the school had then was a kind of electric typewriter which could produce paper tape that could be read by a computer: I then had to catch a bus to what is now the Highbury Campus of the City of Portsmouth College, to use a computer that filled a large, air-conditioned room and was thousands of times less powerful than your phone!

The second room I wished we’d had was the sports hall. A Purbrook PE teacher introduced me to basketball, and I’ve played, refereed and coached it most of my life, now: but at school we played it in the old gym, with wall bars sticking out from the walls and gymnastic beams hanging from the ceiling (not good if you want to shoot a three-pointer!)

After the tour, it was back to conversations. That’s the part we all most enjoy, and we’ve come to realise that it’s because we share so much that matters to us. We came to the school from all parts of Southeast Hampshire – Waterlooville, Cowplain, Lovedean, Horndean, Clanfield, Portchester, Fareham, Leigh Park, Hayling Island… And since school we’ve had a whole range of different working lives and lived all over the UK, Europe and beyond. But Purbrook gave us a way of dealing with people and of looking at life that we’ve never lost – and we are pleased to recognise that in each other.

So, very many thanks to Mr Foxley, Mrs Moore and Mr Radford for their generosity and helpfulness.

In fact, I and several of my year mates came to the fantastic Centenary celebrations in July. The sun shone, and we were treated with such enthusiasm, friendliness and commitment to our enjoyment by students and staff alike. It seemed to me, from the various members of the school community that I encountered, that certain ideas and principles were still being shared and lived at Purbrook Park School. That there was still fair mindedness, care and consideration of others, good will, and a confident and active desire to make a positive difference to the people around you. It was great to feel that, and it made the day for me.

And if you are in year 11, I’d say take the time to thank your teachers as you leave next year: they have given you so much more than you will have realised before you go. And don’t forget to keep a weekend free in October 2075.

Cass Castello - Class of 1973