Former teacher Mrs Mary Rowntree was the driving force behind the pre-school playgroup being set up.  The pre-school playgroup opened on 26th April 1965 using a room at the Quaker Meeting House, Castlegate, with another former teacher, Mrs Louisa Stone, being what was then called the first playgroup leader. The pre-school moved to the Church Rooms, Hallgarth in September 1979 and this was our home for many years before we moved to the Infant School site in November 2018. The first series of photographs date from 1965. The 1985 photographs may be the result of a newspaper reporter visiting for the anniversary with children demonstrating the use of Stickle Bricks. We have a few photographs from 1992 showing various activities including visit to the new housing off Whitby Road in safety helmets the children made. 1997 saw the pre-school come runner-up in a national competition and John Greenway M.P. visited. We are always keen to hear from anyone who may have historic photographs that we can copy.

We have just obtained a significant quantity of historic records and photographs that date from the start of the pre-school and will begin to expand this website archives page as time allows.