This is a text-only version of an article first published on Tuesday, 30 April 2019. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
THE first opening celebration for a school joining the Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust (ODBST) took place in Chesham last month.
Attended by the Rt Revd Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, as the Chairman of ODBST; the mayor of Chesham, Cllr Emily Culverhouse and a range of headteachers, governors and friends, pupils and staff celebrated with an opening assembly.
Vice chair of governors, Stan Barton, told the pupils: "We are celebrating a very special occasion in the history of our school.
Thomas Harding Junior School has now become an academy.
We know that becoming an academy will help to support all of our children and families, both now and in the future. " Pupils sang and described the way they all worked hard to meet the school's values to aspire to great things with a theme of 'reaching for the stars'. Jan Burgess, the headteacher, reminded pupils and guests that Chesham children had been learning in the Thomas Harding buildings for 105 years and that joining ODBST was a part of that journey in providing outstanding education for the families in the Chesham area for another 105 years.