“When people come and see Ponthir School they fall in love, they do, because it’s such a special place.” Those were the words of Aisling O’Mahony, the headteacher of Ponthir Church in Wales Primary School last week (19 February 2025) as it celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Past pupils, current pupils, staff, PTA members, former teachers and governors enjoyed a few hours looking around the school with drinks and cakes.
The school’s choir performed several songs and some pupils shared poems they wrote about what they love about the school.
A bouquet of flowers was presented to Reneè Chivers, 93, who taught in the school from the day it opened,
Look out for a photo and interview with her and Emlyn Powell, who was deputy head from 1979 to 1982, on Cwmbran Life over the next few days.
Former pupils
Former pupil Phillip Lawrence stood on the stage in front of an old school photo of him on the screen. He made the guests laugh by reading out stories from school books he filled in from 1973 to 1979. He said: “If there is one thing I would recommend to the children here, keep your books, because it’s amazing to read back in ten, 20, 30 years’ time.”
Former pupil Jo Bowen, a brigadier and lawyer in the British Army, started in the school when it first opened in 1975. She appeared in a video and said: “I have such happy memories of that time. It was such fun. They were really, really happy times. There were times when I made some of my best friends, lifelong friends and still today, they are my still my best friends.”
Former pupil Richard O’Brien, a barrister, also recorded a video message about his memories from when he started in the school in 1985. He said: “I had a brilliant time in Ponthir. I remember doing quite a few plays when I was at Ponthir. In one we made our own play pretending to be Romans living in Caerleon and all got dressed up in togas and sat around eating grapes, talking about why we invaded Britain.
“I hope you feel as lucky as I did to be a member of the Ponthir School community and I wish you all an enjoyable celebration this evening.”
Headteacher Ms O’Mahony
Ms O’Mahony told Cwmban Life: “First and foremost, it’s such a beautiful and inclusive school and we’re so lucky to have the community that we’ve got so it’s nice for us to get together and celebrate the success of this school.
“Some of our past pupils are here tonight and they’ve got the most amazing tales of what they’ve achieved. Fantastic. It’s just a really special place.
“What we’re trying to achieve now is to reach out further than Ponthir because our catchment area is a lot wider than people think. We’ve got children coming from Newport, we’ve got children from Cwmbran, we are quite widespread.”
The event ended with a video of pupils sharing their thoughts about the school. One pupil said: “My favourite part about Ponthir is there’s always someone to talk to” and another pupil said, “I’ve been exploring different languages with my teachers and doing maths with my friends.”