23/09/22

One couldn’t help but be moved during the recent days of national mourning for our longest reigning monarch. The significance of Queen Elizabeth II cannot be disputed with a reported 4.1 billion people tuning in to watch her funeral from around the world (28 million in the UK alone). She was, quite simply, the most recognized person in the world. With images of her head, so prevalent in our daily lives, it will probably take quite some time to fully come to terms with the fact that she is no longer with us. 

Tadworth Primary School was first opened in 1876. It was originally located along the A217 towards Kingswood but in 1965 it moved to its current location primarily as the number of children attending had grown considerably in size. It has seen, during its 146 years of existence, five kings and two queens. Former Headteachers of the school used to write entries in a log book about key incidents or events in the life of the school. The handwritten entries in these log books, which date from 1903 to 1966, primarily relate to attendance figures, bouts of influenza or other contagious illnesses affecting the children and outcomes from school inspections. They also occasionally mention key events from the time.  

It is interesting to see that our school approached the news of Queen Elizabeth's passing in a similar way to how the school responded to the death of King George VI on 6th February 1952. The only difference being that we can see back then TPS must have had its own flagpole. 

In many ways, one could look at the 'Tadworth Times' as a modern day equivalent of the school log books of yesteryear. It therefore seemed important to include in this week's TT this piece reflecting on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II - a momentous event of our time.

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