The birthday celebrations at Arden Grove Infant and Nursery were attended by three of our former headteachers, as well as current staff, pupils, friends, and family members, and our present Head of School, Joshua Cook, who led the event.

“Arden Grove opened on 2 September 1975, following controversy at the time in its closeness to Norwich Airport,” he said. “We celebrated its 50th year of being open on Friday 12 June with a concert. All 170-plus of the current children took part, from Nursery up to Year 2.

“VIPs, including the first headteacher of Arden Grove, attended the concert, following a tour of the school and meeting current pupils and staff. All the surviving headteachers were there – four in total.

“In the morning, we raised the Arden Grove 50th Flag, designed by a Year 2 pupil, followed by a ‘golden’ morning of making crafts and flags.”

All children and staff were invited to wear gold and yellow to celebrate 50 years. A highlight of the concert was a series of songs performed by the children, representing each decade of the school. The classic hits included ‘I am Sailing’ from 1975, ‘Walking on Sunshine’ from 1985, ‘I’ll Be There for You’ from 1995, Peter Kay’s ‘(Is This the Way to) Amarillo’ from 2005, ‘Shake It Off’ from 2015, and ‘Golden’ from 2025.

Our school, which is part of the Wensum Trust, is also in the process of completing a time capsule to commemorate the milestone, with contributions welcomed from former pupils and staff members.

Mr Cook continued: “Over the next few weeks, we will be putting together an Arden Time Capsule, which will contain the logbooks from when the school opened, comments from the current children, some current memorabilia, and photos from the concert. There is also an online form for previous attendees and staff to complete by scanning a QR code, and these comments will also be added to the time capsule.”

The creator of the logbooks was among those present – our first headteacher Avril King. Other former headteachers joining the celebration were Daniel Thrower, who is now CEO of the Wensum Trust, and Sarah Waterfield, who is currently Executive Headteacher at our school. Arden Grove’s second headteacher, the late Mandy McCarney, was represented by her daughter, who currently works at the school, and her husband, who was a former deputy headteacher.

Each has left a lasting legacy at Arden Grove, from Mrs King’s log books, and the annual trips to London and How Hill in the Norfolk Broads which were invigorated by Mrs McCarney, to our iconic Cob House, which was built in 2014 during the headship of Mr Thrower, and our Specialist Resource Base, The Place, which opened in 2022 while Mrs Waterfield was Head of School.

Former pupils and staff wishing to contribute to the Time Capsule can find the QR code displayed at Hellesdon Library, as well as on our website.