Poplar Farm School in Grantham opened its doors for the first time to reception children in September 2018. Channel 5s Jen Pringle officially opened the school at a special event where the children buried a time capsule.
Now, 7 years on, those reception children are now Year 6 leavers, and as promised, they opened the time capsule that they buried when they were 4/5 years old.
Once again, TV personality Jen Pringle visited the school to enjoy the event with the children, staff, Year 6 parents, and representatives from Wates Group, who built the school.
The ceremony began with a speech from CIT’s Director of Primary Education Paul Hill welcoming everyone and celebrating the wonderful staff Poplar has had since it opened and reflecting on the children’s journeys from the teddy bears picnic when they were in reception class, through to the leaver’s assembly today.
Lincolnshire County Council’s executive councillor for children’s services, Cllr Natalie Oliver, then spoke to the attendees about the original build and how far the school has come.
Guests were then treated to readings from Year 6 pupils, sharing some of their favourite memories of their time at Poplar Farm.
Jen Pringle, famous for her role as a presenter and voiceover artist on Channel 5s Milkshake, helped the children exhume the capsule. The children then spent time with Jen going through all the memories from 2018 including newspaper cuttings, class photo’s, and artwork they had drawn, as well as notes to themselves of who they wanted to be when they grew up!
Kate Hodson, Headteacher of Poplar Farm, commented: “It’s been such a wonderful day, full of emotion, and that’s just from me to be fair. Watching our reception children from 2018 grow through the school, now Year 6s, has been an absolute privilege. They are all a credit to the school. We wish them well on their forward journey onto secondary school. Thank you to Wates, LCC, and Jen Pringle, for taking the time to spend the morning with us to celebrate.”
Jen Pringle added: “What a privilege to return to Poplar Farm Primary School and see how the school has progressed and how the children have grown! It was wonderful to open the time capsule and sift through all the items the children put in there 7 years ago. I can’t believe it has been that long!”
Cllr Oliver concluded: “What a special event today has been. Building Poplar Farm was a major piece of work, and I’d like to thank everyone involved. I think we can all agree that it’s made a real difference to the local community since opening.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen the school go from strength-to-strength, and I think the staff and pupils can be proud of all they’ve achieved. The school’s first pupils are now ready to move on to secondary school, and I’m sure their time here will have given them a strong foundation for the future.
“I’m sure that success will continue as the school moves forwards, and its pupils will continue to thrive in the coming years.”
Pupils then gathered all their new items to put back into the capsule. These included class work, whole school photo’s, confectionary wrappers, artwork and much more! The capsule will now be buried again until 2043 when Poplar Farm School will celebrate it’s 25 year anniversary.
