It’s Goodbye Church Mead – and Hello Willow Brook!

With Head Teacher Joe Murray, Cllr Midge Broadley and Mr Colin Broadley, Chair of Governors

Last Saturday, on my 28th birthday (I know, I still can’t believe I’m 28 either!), I spent the afternoon in the company of parents, pupils, teachers and fellow councillors, saying goodbye to Church Mead primary school and welcoming in its succesor, Willow Brook.

Church Mead has been through a difficult time in recent months. It was placed in special measures and had to fight hard to regain its good reputation. As a school at the heart of the Leyton community, its success matters to all of us, whether or not we have children there.

I thank Joe Murray (pictured above left), Church Mead’s energetic head, for all the hard work he has put into transforming Church Mead’s fortunes. He leaves new Head, Theresa Busby, a solid and positive legacy.

Welcome to Willow Brook, Theresa, and an even warmer welcome to Leyton!

*********************************************************************************************

Church Mead's Steel Band beats a mean drum
Church Mead’s Steel Band beats a mean drum…..

The school's 'street dancers' strut their stuff

The school’s street dancers strut their stuff!

The Stranded Boys get funky

Resident Church Mead Boy Band, the ‘Stranded Boys’, make the girls – especially me!!! – go crazy πŸ™‚

The British Legion Ladies do a mean trade

Eileen and Doreen from the British legion do their bit to raise funds for the new school hall

With Shaheena and son

With Shaheena, one of my favourite residents, and one of her five (!!!!) sons

Gossiping with Mr Moore from the British legion

Having a gossip with Mr Moore, Chair of the British legion Leyton Branch. Mr Moore was the late Queen Mum’s Chief Chef when she lived at Clarence House. According to Mr Moore – who has been married for over 50 years (!!!), so he should know – the secret of a good marriage is to eat an apple a day and engage in daily acts of, ahem, ‘conjugal relations’. πŸ˜‰ Let’s see, huh, let’s see!

With new head Theresa Busby

Welcoming new Head Theresa Busby to her new school. There are still vacancies for the reception class. If you’re interested in registering your kids, please get in touch!

67 thoughts on “It’s Goodbye Church Mead – and Hello Willow Brook!”

  1. i use to go church mead and i go willow brook now im in the dolphin. thank you mr.murry for all the events and church mead is still in my heart but i think mrs.busby will do a great job.

    P.S. im gonna miss ya CHURCH MEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ROCK!!

  2. Many thanks Miranda for putting up some lovely photos and I wish you good luck in your new role. And to dear Saffy,George Mitchell is very fortunate to have you. Regards to all at Willow Brook.

  3. Willow brook rules! oh ya! mr. Murray did a great a great job and i think mrs.busby will too oh yes!!!!
    i think its a great school because we can acheive higher levels and grades in the upcoming years!
    it has taught me alot of things that i never knew
    and has helped me alot in all the subjects and im now in the whales class and our teachers are really cool especially our teacher because shes the best teacher in the whole wide world!!!!! shes the kindest teacher i ve ever met and she lets us do anything we want and im her best student.On occasions she gives sweets thx!!!!!!!

  4. i am missing church mead and i love it it was so fun.
    i love church mead

  5. Church mead was great! But Now we have willow brook and its great our teachers and lsa’s,
    we have had so much fun in the making of willow brook! ha! ha! our staff is really helpful,for instance: Mrs.Lotter,Mrs.Sagoo,Mr.Wilson and Miss.Curatolo who is in the whales class and i am one of her best students,no:1 Khizer and i even love telling jokes here’s one:Where do baby ape’s sleep?
    In apri – cots! ha ha ha! My favourite colour i think is Black,white,green and dark blue! My best friends are Omar,but he gets on my nerves sometimes and acts like he tough and he thinks hes the boss, Secondly its Joe who has to pinch me, (Dude hes annoying!!!!!!) at number three its Either hamza or saerne, Hamza is always against me never agrees about what me is saying!!!! and saerne is over the top annoying dude in the class hes good and quite but out side playground ga ga oooooo annoying,Lsa’s 1.Miss.N.Akhter!!
    I love church mead i love willow brook!!!!!!!!! thanx for your time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Khizer!!!!

  6. Hi all, we read all your messages and we thought that we should write one too. Well we are in whales and hawks class!!. Yes I know whales are the best!!!
    We are very sad because Mrs Lotter is leaving us and we are gonna miss her soooooo much!!!
    We also miss Georgia in year 5.

  7. hello everyone i am now in year nine i did go to church mead it was a great school chruch mead rocked everyone needs to go back there CHURCH MEAD ROCKS

  8. i am a student from willow brook primary and i am really sad that mr.Motion has left

  9. Church mead woud always b rememberd for eva nd alwayz i reallyy dunno y they changed the name!!!

  10. We love Willowbrook and enjoy it every day. We miss you Mr Murray and welcome Miss Busbee.

    Yours sincerely

    Tiana xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  11. Church Mead was fantastic – but Willow Brook will be even better!
    The children at Willow Brook are so energetic, polite, helpful, funny and they work really hard!!!
    So – let’s hear it for Willow Brook! Yeah!

    Rachel Wilkins
    Assistant Head
    Willow Brook
    x x x x x x x x x

  12. i am very sad that my l.s.a mr.motion has left he was a good teacher and every body misses him very much. πŸ™

  13. i miss u gorgia and church mead school and i would like to give a big shout to mr murry

  14. I think Church mead was a great school but now in my opinion Willow Brook Will be even better in the next few years. Miranda Grell i do not know you i am not familiar with your name either it would be great if you could tell me and again in my opinion i think you were a teacher inb Church Mead, I love Willow Brook, 1 reason i am a School Counciler Representing Whales Class and i think i am doing a Great Job,

    Khizer.M

  15. mr Murray was the best!!!!
    nobody could replace him!
    it was soooooo sad when he went. crya!!
    Bubi pelz

  16. I REALY MISS YOU CHURCH MEAD BUT NOW THERES WILLOW BROOK I MISS MR MOTION AND CHURCH MEAD.

  17. OMDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I MISS CHURCH MEAD SOOOOO MUCH AND DA ONE AN ONLI MISS MOORE NEED O FANK U SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!:(
    I MISSS EVERY11 SOOO MUCH GEORGIZ AND NICKISHAA AND SHANICE HOLD TITEEEEEEEEE MWHA!!!!!!!!
    NUFF LUVVVVV
    XSHAKEX
    XMELISX

  18. I LOVE U CHURCH MEAD. I MISS U SO MUCH. I USED TO GO THERE , AND THE PICTURES REMIND ME OF EVREYTHING. THANKS MR.MURAY I MISS A LOT. THANKS MR.MURAY AND ALL MY TEACHERS. (MS.SAGOO, MS. THOMPSON, ,MS WADE, MR. WILSON) AND MS MOORE IN MY SATS. I LOVE U CHURCH MEAD. I MISS EVREY1.
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Yasmin
    xxxx

  19. i miss church soooooooooooooooo much it was the best school ever especially when mr murray was head teacher

  20. OMD i miss church mead berz and i wanna go bak even doe i had my upz and downz but still u gotta love dnt u bye i miss u lotz churh mead. da last ting we got of it is a mermory
    bye bye and bye mwah!
    love ya
    Linda
    xxx

  21. i miss mr murray esepecially when he was the headteacher and i miss church mead it was fun being with mr murray

  22. Yeeeaah Isshh Tym Fow Meee Tu Leeve A Likkle Comment-x…….Church Meeadd Wass Shoooo Nott Wilow Brook Well i dno cos i dont go i go George Mitchell Now …ermmm i miss you too melis n nicki n georgia n shellin n all d rest…. Luvv Yuu Lott BuuHBii x x x x

  23. hey everyone i am sooooooooooooooo gonna miss primary coz im startin secondary πŸ™ πŸ™

  24. heyyyyyy love willow brook sooooo much and CHURCH MEAD THIS SKOOL IS THE NUMBER 1 BEST ACUALLY THE THE BEST WE ROOK I WILL BE LEAVING SOON I WILL MISS EVERY ONE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH

  25. Joining Mrs. Wilkins in saying GO WILLOW BROOK and a shout out to my Fantastic Falcons Alleyah and Rita and Ozlem. Hope you guys are enjoying secondary school!

    It’s terrific that the community is so involved in Willow Brook – it’s such an important part of what makes the school great. πŸ™‚

    Margaret Pritchard
    Year 6 Teacher
    Willow Brook

  26. hi people in owls i am having lot’s of fun in my school newport my friends names are : summer, stephanie, tia, zarah ,rachael,sana,shabnam,klein,thanda,abigail.azia.sophia,elanour,simona,dimonica,natalia,julia,megan,and adina but my best best best friend is summer. i miss charley the most.
    missing yuh all
    busraxxx

  27. hey wass up willow brook and wass up hibbi i cant believe that u realy wrote and is busra writing i cant believe that she goes beaumont primary!

  28. I was a student at willow brook and left this year 2007 it was a sad day and i will never forget that day wish i was still in that school i miss my friends and the teachers but good luck people in the later future.

    Abigail Edwards
    Owls class
    Miss.wade , Mrs.Lawrence
    peace

  29. I attend willow brook it is a great school i miss mr.murry but l;ife go on he was a superb head-teacher and will allways be to who ever have him as a head-teacher u are very fortunate to have such a great person in your mist.

    xxxxxxxx
    xx Faith was here xx

  30. i miss mrs lotter very much and i hope she is enjoying her life and also i hope miss akhter is feeling much better

  31. I Went to Church Mean back in 1985 – 1993 (I think!!) during the era of Mr A A Jones…a fantastic headteacher, and I have to say I feel it gave me a fantastic foundation for the rest of my education. I grew up in Leyton, still live here and Church Mead has always beena huge part of the community. My son is now coming upto nursery age and i like the fact that he will go tot he same primary scgool, and hopefully gain the same foundations I did. I went on to secondary school, and university, where I am now a qualified clinical pharmacist, working at the forefront of drug research. I truly feel that this is iwed in part to my educatoion so early on. The pupils at Church Mead (now Willow Brook) are really very lucky to have so many people believe in them.

  32. yea i went ere gust befor it became willo brock an mr murry iz da besi i miss all da people an her 2 yu shellin georgia melis niki and da rest we all had a great time and our ups and downs…. walkin around in our crew gettin away witf everthin and alwayz missin da memory ill com an see ye all soon …

    xx hollie xx ladi shizzels…xxx
    miss ye all

  33. miss more an all da rest of da teatures yu are and always be da dez out of dem all … cant member all of da people but i no i miss yu … apart frm some peoplz cauz tey are twats but herz to ma new friends stevie mollie thabo ishmail rhys and da rest of dem luv ye all always.
    da skool gave me a good education and a help in2 secondary and im now in yr8 . just member wen we went campin in suntrap dat was nang and i member wen we fludded da toilats and we came outt in oue towls…lol sik if yu were der in 20043 n 2004 n 2005 her iz ma msn ladytink@hotmail.co.uk plz get in touch missin ya all

  34. loool allow willow broke man it was ber nang wen it was church mead kuz me ryan.k melis nikisha hollie bradly shellin geoger n myself tanak n many more now dat skl iz poom kuz lool

  35. i luv church mead even doe im in secondary church mead will always be the name of my primary scholl not willow brook. eventhough willow brooks teachers were wicked. biggin up miss wade and miss moore lol they were th BEST teachers in the WHOLE universe and they made us rise above the stars ( http://www.youtube.com/rkelly-i am a mountain.).xxxx luv u mr murray and u dun a gd job ms busby xxxx luv u all i miss u (especialy miss wade and miss moore) always.xxxxxxxxxx luv frm kaylar (used to be in owls)

  36. πŸ˜‰ W i l l o w B r o o k Y o u R o c k ! ! ! ! πŸ˜‰

    B e s t s k l E v e r

    ………..T a m i m……….

  37. CHURCH MEAD NEEDS A SCHOOL RUNION !
    ASAP !!!!
    FOR US YEAR 9’S THAT LEFT 3 YEARS AGO πŸ™‚

    ORGANISE SOMETHING ,

    SHANiCE ,

    x

  38. hey, calvin sent loads of messgaes u kno. i used 2 go church mead but i left in year 4. at that tym my teacher waz mrs lotter ( gr8 teacher! πŸ˜€ ) i broke my ankle and sprianed it quite a few tyms when i waz there jokes but ended up in hospital and my mum frustrated. LLLLLOOOOOOOOL!! any wayssss good tyms, my dad went church mead, so did my aunt ( my dads sisss) ggggoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooDDD tymmmmmmmssss
    HASTA LUEGO!!!!!!

  39. hiyaaa people………….
    i realy miss willow brook and a also miss miss more my year 4 teacher and my year 6 teacher missing my class mates too-muna’naila,rabecca,amina angie,fiza.and mutch more

  40. hey humzah shakil
    u use to be in my class man.its beeen long time me hear from u
    I am missin everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Churchmead RULEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    man i feel like cryin hehe

  41. hi everyone i am now in year ten i also attened church mead jrs it was the best i didnt want to leave all the teachers behind coz i miss them all so much but now my friend works as a dance teacher so it aint that bad acutlly i heard since we all left there changing the school around and it is not how i remebered it because it has changed sooo much and it gets me angry everytime i go past coz i dont remeber church mead jrs all i can see is a tottally new school were not even allowed to call it church mead no more which is really out of alder
    X-X-X-X-MISS YOU CHURCH MEAD JRS -X-X-X-X

  42. umar long tym no c. u got my e mail addie but u don’t cum online. oh how i miss the 3 muskateers, me, umar and mubashir. i saw mubashirs house on sale, i think hes moving houses or school somthing. i met faraaz the other day and i asked him what schools have this and that gone to and he said Kelmscott. i was quiet suprised! i thought that you guys were at Norlington, Lammas or George Mitchell but any hoooooooo! I miss…..

    C ream
    H oney
    U niversal
    R emote
    C ontrols
    H e

    M ight
    E gg
    A
    D uck

    J ust
    R ound
    S ams

    Miss u Church Mead

  43. Yo Yo Yo!

    Omgg , i Misss Church Mead So Muchh πŸ™
    Itss Soo Sad,
    i Havnt Seen Bare Peoplee For Likee a Longg Timeee ,
    Miss All Off Yuu Lotsss

    xx

  44. the last time wen i waz at willow brook waz wen it was the end of year 6 and i went to c my mates. dey wre shocked. especially ruslan. lol!!

    sometymz i tink that churchmead was better than willow brook and thats true because the school was born to be Church Mead!

    but anywayz its done and over with

    miss u churchy!

  45. i use 2 go church mead i started from year 4 and i left in year 6 i was in whales class in year 5 and then hawks in year 6 i renember every one in my class but am not sure if there renember me

  46. hey does anyone remember me i was in whales and then hawks but left as soon as year 6 started coz i moved houses and i miss my whole class!! i was momina lol its soo weird no1 would probs read theses comments coz now were all grown but still damn miss you all and hopefully wherever you are ,your all happy and successful!

  47. I attended Church Meade infants and Juniors school from 1968 – 1974. The teachers I remember are Mr R Evans, Miss Fluck (PE), Mr Hope and Mr Smith. The Head was Mr AA Jones. I was in the rounders team which I enjoyed. I lived in Villiers Close but now I’m living in the West Midlands.

  48. Nice to see togetherness brought from a place filled with education whether I was old skl like me (Chruch Meade) or your the later genaration (willow brook) it’s good we all got to have a good time at school before departing into the real world take a bow everyone we are the example……. ps shouts out miss willaims miss Moore miss Leiva miss wright miss wade and of course mr motion ??

  49. Hello everyone at Church Mead/Willow Brook. I have lived most of my life in a tiny village in Devon. But I’ve never forgotten my time at Church Mead πŸ™‚ I was there 1961 to 1966 when I lived in Leyton. I just ‘googled’ Church Mead to see if its still there – and it is! But now called Willow Brook!
    So I just want to wish everyone at Church Mead/Willow Brook much happiness, enjoy your time at school and all the best for your future x
    PS and is there still a beautiful silver birch tree in the playground??

  50. 5 November 2018
    I miss London today and decided to look for something about Churchmead Junior in Leyton .How amazing was it that kids and staff wrote about me!It made my heart warm?I just want to say it was the best time of my life amazing children gorgeous friends !miss you all lots of love from South Africa Mrs Betsie LΓΆtter (Teacher 2002-2006)

  51. Hi ,I was at Church Mead School between 69/74,
    Best days of my life!
    I loved Art and play time!
    Lived in Leyton for over 40 years and now reside in sunny Birmingham.
    My name is Saleem House and I remember:
    Mark Weston
    Andros,
    Graham Howel
    Andrew Reese
    Peter weekes now Afshan
    Ingrid Kermer
    Raymond Prior.
    Laraine Prior,
    Keely
    Dennis Southern,
    Many others,can’t remember names but never forgot faces
    ,Please respond if you remember me or the class of 74,
    Mr forWay?

  52. Just came across this when looking for any information about Leyton. I was at Church Mead between 1956-1962. I then went to George Mitchell. I now live in Essex and have done so for 44-years! Reading some of the comments reminded me of my happy time at the school. I wish I could remember the headmistress of the infants. I do remember Mrs Levison, a lovely caring teacher who called us her ‘scallywags’! I recall the headmaster Mr Barrowclough. I saw him in a pub in Chingford when I was 18! The school is in a lovely spot on the edge of Leyton Marshes – we spent so much of our time playing there. I did see a lot of information about the school and it’s pupils on Friends Reunited when it was going. I often wonder if there was a reunion that I missed. Great school, great memories.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *