It may have been hideous weather outside, but it was warm and welcoming in our school on Saturday! We opened all our doors to our delightful children and their families, ex-pupils from the local community, friends from across the city and former families from as far away as New Zealand! 

Our sheep hunt was a great success, with the children using their history skills, observation, questioning and strategic thinking to find the information they needed, to crack the code word. It was BAA-RILLIANT! However, we won't talk about Miss Pashley's home-made sheep-shaped biscuits! I think Mrs Hollingshead was being kind when she blamed the gluten-free flour for my poor baking skills!

Many ex-pupils joined us, bringing artefacts, photos and stories from the past! We had a big discussion about there being an open fire in the hall, to heat the school and how there were photographs from during and just after the war, whereby our metal railings had been removed to make artillery. My heart was racing when I saw that the teachers usually parked their cars on the playground in the 70s, with children playing around them. Or the story I was told about a little boy who brought matches to school one day and set fire to one of the buildings! A lot of tea and coffee was drunk as folk shared their stories!

However, my absolute favourite story, was the gentleman we met who actually designed our school logo as a sheep. It is a story of coincidence. Back in the day, the school ran a competition to design the logo. This young chap lost his original entry, having taken hours to create a playground scene. He then, at the last minute, had to rush his next entry. He said he was rushing, but remembered how he was intrigued by the statue on Town Street of Samuel Marsden. He apparently loved the sheep and thought it was odd to have a sheep in a town. So he drew a sheep for his entry. It took him a few mins and he won the competition. There is actually an article about him in the YEP. However, then, just like Samual Marsden, he moved to New Zealand! But he did not become a sheep farmer, or a vicar, otherwise I may have thought he had made the whole story up. It was brilliant to meet him and his family! Very grateful they took the time to join us on Saturday. We had a discussion about school emblems. The owl is very popular in Leeds schools, as this is the Leeds city emblem, with owls on the roof of the town hall. Our sheep just highlights how unique we are. No one else in the whole of the UK has a sheep as their emblem. I checked this out! A unique school for unique special individuals!

We had a special visit from Leeds Heritage Trust during the session, who were really impressed! They have advised us to go for a blue plaque, to secure our place in local history! A huge thank you to the pupils who helped out and, as always, were outstanding ambassadors for the school and to the parents, staff and governors who helped out on the day! Farsley Westroyd is a great place to be!