Witney care home residents visit local school for teacher’s reunion

Residents at a care home in Witney were delighted to visit their local primary school for a special reunion.

In honour of World Teachers’ Day, the team at Care UK’s Millers Grange, on Curbridge Road, arranged for four residents who used to work in teaching to visit Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School.

86-year-old Pauline Wooliams worked at Bampton C of E Primary School, in Bampton, for 20 years teaching foundation classes including maths and English. Theodosia ‘Theo’ Howells, aged 98, spent many years teaching cookery and needlework to secondary school students across the country, including in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and County Durham. 

91-year-old Megan Somerville, a graduate Librarian, spent her career setting up libraries in secondary schools and universities, as well as teaching English as a second language to children who relocated to the UK from overseas. Jill Bourike, aged 88, spent her weekends teaching in Sunday Schools and sharing her knowledge of foreign languages with local children.

The team at Millers Grange arranged for the four retired teachers to take a tour of the school, where they were able to meet some of the current pupils and teachers and share their experiences of how things have changed from their own time teaching.

Commenting on the day, Theo said: “It was a great day and really interesting to see all the technology available in schools now – that’s not something we had in my day!

“It was very refreshing to see that the children were so engaged with their learning, one pupil was already clear he wants to become a mathematician!”

Alison Parry, Home Manager at Millers Grange, added: “The ladies love to talk about their memories of teaching so, in honour of World Teachers’ Day, the team decided to surprise them with a trip to the local primary school.

“Pauline, Theo, Megan and Jill had a wonderful time sharing their knowledge and experiences with some of the current students, and loved having the opportunity to chat about their memories with each other.

“I’d like to extend a big thank you to the team and students at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School for welcoming the ladies, and to the team here at Millers Grange for organising such a meaningful day!”

Millers Grange is a modern care home which provides full-time residential, dementia and end-of-life care, as well as short-term respite care. Designed to enable its residents to live enjoyable and fulfilling lives, the care home has its very own cinema and hair salon, and there is plenty of space both in and outdoors for relaxation and recreation.