PUPILS said final fond farewells as an era came to an end at two of York's secondary schools.

Yesterday, Oaklands and Lowfield students came together on the Lowfields site to prepare for the merger of the two schools.

Both schools are to operate as York High School from the Lowfield School site, in Dijon Avenue, from September this year, before returning to the Oaklands site, following a revamp, in January 2009.

The 1,000 pupils and 120 staff at the merged school will be lead by head teacher David Ellis when it reopens after the summer break.

But this week has been about saying goodbye to the schools they know and love. Both schools became comprehensives in 1985 as part of the reorganisation of York schools.

There were farewell assemblies at both schools and a balloon release at Lowfields.

At Oaklands, technology teacher and head of year Keith Raffell is leaving teaching after 19 years at the school.

He said he has fond memories of his time there. He said: "Oaklands is a caring community school catering for a very wide range of abilities. It has always had a very caring atmosphere for kids in the community that sometimes did not have the best of opportunities thrown at them.

"There's a strong sense of cohesion among the staff and it has always had a lovely atmosphere.

"There has been a lot of changes in education, but the ethos of this school has remained unchanged."

At Lowfield, acting head teacher Christine Holbrey said that over the years, the school had raised thousands of pounds for charity, including £4,000 during early 2005 after the Asian tsunami.

She said: "This was an amazing amount of money for a school of 400 pupils to raise, and it went to a charity called Hands Across The Water to build an orphanage in Thailand. We also sponsored a child in Africa for over 12 years."

In 1997, the school staged a week-long arts festival and pupils experienced a huge range of activities from circus skills and Indian henna painting to working with a playwright and line dancing.

Staff and pupils also took part in assault courses, sporting competitions, juggling, and a Ready Steady Cook-style event.

Mrs Holbrey said: "Lowfield has gone from strength to strength and results over the last five years have increased from 16 per cent A* to C GCSE grades to 38 per cent. We are hoping for best ever results this year.

"We pride ourselves on our caring, family atmosphere.

"During the last World Cup we put up a big screen TV in the hall to watch some important matches at 8am.

"We saw David Beckham scoring a goal for England to the sound of many of our pupils banging drums, waving flags and cheering loudly."

Lowfield's Activities Week took place during the summer term when the timetable was suspended.

Pupils and staff took part in a huge range of activities from residential trips to the Lake District, camping, trips abroad to Dinard in France to school and York based activities.

Mrs Holbrey said: "Lowfield will be remembered for its caring atmosphere and the fact that every pupil is made to feel valued.

"We shall look forward with enthusiasm to the exciting times ahead as Lowfield and Oaklands merge to become York High School.

"The new opportunities for our pupils will be great, and staff and pupils are already anticipating exciting times ahead.

"The Lowfield spirit will continue to thrive in York High School."