A PRIMARY school really can call itself a family affair as it has one child in reach of its seven years.
Not to mention the older children, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who went to St Paul’s in Stalybridge previously.
At the moment, one member of the Shelley and Grange clan dominates the school register in a quirk of timing.
And there are occasions where all seven turn up at once, when they are with childminder Lisa Shelley, who also went to the Huddersfield Road school!
Proud Shirley Shelley, who has a relative who still lives on – where else – St Pauls Street, proudly said: “There’s Lily Shelley, who turned 11 on March 17. Then Lilly Grange, my daughter’s child, Elise Shelley, Stanley Shelley, Frankie Grange, Bobby Shelley and Rose Shelley.
“Three of their parents – Lisa, Bryn and Lee Shelley – went to St Paul’s, their granddad went too and their dad, Don, who’s 89, went there too!
“On top of the ones who are there now, there’s Charlie and Oscar, who are 17 and 15, who went there. My daughter has Evie, who’s 16, who was at St Paul’s.
“Whenever it comes up that someone has to pick which school a child goes to, they’re going to St Paul’s. It’s remarkable.
“I’ve asked the children and they all know they’re cousins, primarily because they look alike.
“So I spoke to the headteacher and the Rev Emma Handley, who loves the fact they were all christened at her church. She says, ‘The Shelleys are here!’
“On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they all turn up to school together as they’re with my daughter-in-law Lisa, who’s a childminder and has the same name as my daughter, and she drops them off.
“The school’s been a really important part of family life, also because of its links with the church and at the moment, this is the last year it will happen when all the kids will be in different years.
“But if the school’s still open, I think future generations may go there too – it’s a lovely church school.”