Last days of historic Black Country school

This may well be the last ever photo of pupils and staff at a Black Country school which has since been wiped off the map, but not erased from memories.

It shows St Mary's Church of England School, at Hurst Hill, Coseley, where the 200 pupils were in 1986 working on a commemorative booklet to mark its impending closure, bringing the curtain down on 154 years of history.

They were tracing its roots to the Victorian era, and also planning an exhibition of their work before the school chalked up its final term.

The photo, taken in March 1986 – the school closed a few months later – shows pupils and staff with the head, Michael Harvey, in the playground of the 90-year-old building which had been the school's home for the previous 22 years, having moved there from elsewhere in the town.

St Mary's School was not the only Coseley school closing at the time. In what was described as a merger, the end was nigh also for Mount Pleasant Primary School, Roseville, with pupils from both schools moving to the brand new Hurst Hill Primary School in Paul Street, which opened in November 1986 with Mr Harvey as its first head.