GOLD has been the theme for celebrations at a school in Worcester which has been teaching children for 50 years.

A series of events were organised to mark the milestone year for St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Chedworth Drive, Warndon.

Among them was a visit from the Archbishop of Birmingham, a talk from Kevin Connolly, the former BBC Middle East correspondent, who was one of the first pupils at the school in 1966, and a reunion evening with a celebration mass and hog roast.

The celebrations were kicked off with the visit from the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, who took a celebration mass at the school in April.

The school also ran a 1960s day where pupils learned about different aspects of the era when the school was created and enjoyed dance workshops.

Mr Connolly visited the school in July to talk to pupils about his experiences in war zones before joining the Golden Jubilee celebration mass and hog roast in the evening of Friday, July 8 for past and present pupils and their families.

Pupils also enjoyed a day when they were encouraged to dress in gold to celebrate the jubilee and children were presented with commemorative gold badges.

The school's prayer was also printed onto golden bookmarks given to the pupils.

Louise Bury, the school's headteacher, said: "The children all wore gold and it was very good.

"Kevin Connolly spoke to year 5 and year 6 children and read them an extract from a report he had done overseas.

"It showed them the danger he had put himself in but also there were children in it sifting around in the rubble to find their books because there was a mosque that had been bombed."

She added that the celebrations helped to show children how the school's values had endured.

She said: "The school is a very different school to 50 years ago.

"We are going to be a school of 400 in a few years time.

"But there are still past pupils heavily involved in school.

"One of the original pupils is on our governing body and we have past pupils who teach here.

"It's a school that has a lot of history and has been here a long time.

"It just makes the children feel they are a part of a family that's gone before."

Celebrations will carry on until October when the children will bury a time capsule for future generations to discover.