PARENTS and pupils celebrated a Monmouthshire school’s history yesterday (WED) as it marked 30 years since it opened.

Usk Church in Wales Primary School, on Monmouth Road, opened to infant pupils in February 1985 – just days after the first EastEnders episode was aired and as Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson sat on top of the UK singles chart with I Know Him So Well.

And a host of parents who attended the school themselves now send their own children there.

School governor Laura Jones was one of the parents who attended it from its grand opening. Her son, Henry Taylor, is now a pupil there.

She said: "It's such a wonderful place and such a strong community. It shows that in the strong PTA that there is here."

She later attended Caerleon Comprehensive School before becoming an Assembly Member for South Wales East in 2003 for four years. She is now a full-time mum.

Science teacher Mark Stones has taught at the school since its opening – and has worked in Usk since 1983.

He said teaching at smaller schools around the town which were amalgamated by 1985 was hampered by infrastructure problems, especially when it was cold.

Mr Stones said: "It was quite good fun because in winter when the pipes froze over the children and teachers would have a great time because they would have time off until they defrosted.

“[Usk Primary] school has been extensively built on. We were quite oversubscribed at one time.”

While Year 6 pupil Amilia Preston, 11, said she was looking forward to the school’s 1980s week in June when they will again commemorate its opening. Children will learn about the decade and everyone will dress up in fashions from the time.

She said: "I love the 1980s. I don't know why, it is just so cool, I love all that stuff.”

Last July the school, which has about 230 pupils, was visited by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall as she toured Usk as part of a Britain in Bloom trip celebrating the way the town has embraced the competition.

Recent improvements at the school include a science lab – in which Mr Stones is based – and a new computer suite.