SOUTH Oxford Secondary School has been closed for more than 30 years, but is still fondly remembered by former pupils.

The school, in Thames Street, served the community for 73 years, opening in 1908 and closing after a long battle to save it in 1981.

We are not sure when or why the picture above was taken, but it shows many of the pupils in happy mood and giving the thumbs-up sign.

Perhaps it was one of many occasions when the school won a temporary reprieve from the axe.

Little is known about the early life of the school. One of the first references to it in the Oxford Mail archives is in 1962 when Dennis ‘Joe ’ Banton, captain of Oxfordshire cricket team, was appointed headmaster.

The following year, he and his wife accompanied 35 boys and girls, aged 11 to 15, on the school’s first continental holiday, a 10-day visit to Italy.

Another innovation that year was an open evening for parents. There were displays of fencing by the school fencing club, country dancing by girls and singing by the choir.

Parents also watched their children dissecting fish and animals’ eyes, and saw examples of their woodwork and needlework.

At that time, there was already talk of closing the school and replacing it with new buildings elsewhere in South Oxford.

There were fears, too, that the school could be in the path of the city’s proposed new relief roads, particularly one crossing Christ Church Meadow.

In 1966, however, Mr Banton was able to assure parents that the school could “fairly safely look forward to at least four years of extended life”.

Uncertainty over the school’s future and lack of investment led to it becoming badly run-down.

In 1973, parents handed in a petition to Oxford MP Monty Woodhouse describing the school as “out of date, depressing and dangerously sited”.

The school was built too late to qualify for the Government priority replacement programme, which was restricted to those built before 1903.

And apart from being dilapidated, it was encircled by a one-way traffic system in Thames Street and Speedwell Street.

Staff and pupils carried on as best they could, but in 1977, the school was recommended for closure by an Oxfordshire County Council working party.

Campaigners fought a desperate battle to save it, but the end came in July 1981 when teachers and pupils marked the last day by dressing in Edwardian costumes.

The building was used as a community centre and night shelter before being sold and turned into flats.