PUPILS and staff are hard at work preparing for their own Jubilee celebrations on Saturday - to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Joseph Rowntree School at New Earswick, York.

The school is holding a Diamond Jubilee garden party and hopes former pupils, parents and staff will join present day friends for a nostalgic celebration of the life of the school, which was officially opened in July 1942 by one of the period's most influential politicians, RA "Rab" Butler.

Like the village of New Earswick, which celebrates its centenary this year, the school owes its existence to the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust, which realised the village needed more than a primary school.

A look back at the school records shows how forward-thinking the trustees were, seeing the importance of modern facilities for practical lessons as well as theory, and how important adult education was as part of the whole picture.

The trustees decided the new building should exceed many requirements of the time, building a separate dining hall, when they had been told they could double up the assembly hall or gym, and providing a three-acre school garden where pupils could grow fruit and vegetables to eat themselves.

There was an "unusually large" gymnasium, classrooms with built-in cupboards, display boards and colour schemes, large windows, lockers for pupils and a small aquarium with "special lighting for observation of the occupants".

The school's design thus became a benchmark for post-war schools.

The trust's philosophy for the school was also miles ahead of the current Government's lifelong learning trend, and a vital part of its life was its Evening Institute and a Youth Club.

One of the ideals of the trustees was "to train pupils to delight in pursuits and rejoice in accomplishments - which may become the recreations and the ornaments of hours of leisure in maturer years".

The first headmaster, Edward Lightowler, said he believed in combining the practical and the theoretical, but not in vocational training.

"The school concerns itself more with life and less with earning a living.... In this way it is hoped that, when the time arrives for the children to go out into the world, they will know how to seek out knowledge for themselves and will desire to go further in some branch of other of learning.

"If this objective is attained then, throughout their adult life, they will return in their leisure hours and the school will be recognised as the natural centre for the cultural, educational, social and recreational activities of the whole of the wide area which it serves. The 'leaving age' will, in fact, never be reached."

The garden party runs from 2pm until 4pm on Saturday. Attractions include music, bouncy castles, paint balling, stalls, games, refreshments and a re-unite tent where visitors can go to meet up with old friends. There will also be the chance to tour the school.

Updated: 09:11 Wednesday, July 03, 2002