As one of Southampton's oldest schools celebrates its centenary year, the Daily Echo takes a look back at a century that has seen pupils graduate from slates to the Web and interactive whiteboards...

IT WAS built to educate the children of workers in the nearby foundry, which gave the lane, and hence the school, its name.

Long since the foundry closed, the school it spawned survives and offers its pupils a very modern education.

The foundation stone of the school in Freemantle was laid on July 5 1901, but it didn't actually open until September 1902.

The initial roll number of pupils was 598, but numbers varied widely in the early years with children prey to a host of diseases, many of which are themselves now thankfully banished to the history books.

A look back through the meticulously archived school records shows youngsters' sick notes reporting everything from whooping cough, mumps and measles to scarlet fever and typhoid as lethal epidemics tore through the school.

In 1903 more than 100 youngsters out of 651 on the roll were off sick with mumps.

And there are other, equally heart-rending tales from the record books with some children unable to attend on rainy days because they didn't have waterproof shoes.

Further back in the archives is a rich store of historical gems, noted by the first headmaster Mr Fry in his school diary.

On 10 October, 1902, he notes: "The wet weather during the week caused the playground soil to work up into mud and instead of ordinary recreation the boys drilled in the desks during recess." Drill at break time? Just imagine the faces of youngsters ordered to march their way through morning playtime today!

Mr Fry's diaries also show how the community around the school has changed.

In his time, Foundry Lane was a rural outpost of the city, rather than the slice of suburban jungle it is today.

"A complaint has been made by a gentleman living nearby that stones have been thrown at his cattle in the field. The whole school was warned against future offences of this kind," he reported.

Pupils at Foundry Lane were also affected by the great events of their time, with eight boys "made fatherless" by the Titanic tragedy in 1912.

But there are constants, whatever the generation, such as school dinners.

The entry for December 4, 1905 reads: "Free dinners have begun today. A portable boiler for 50 basins of soup, basins and spoons are being lent by Mr Etheridge, a member of the education committee. The soup is cooked by the caretaker, who sends it over at 12 o'clock."

Twenty-five years on there was a more progressive culinary regime

June 5, 1930: "Commenced serving cod liver oil to the children who have been ordered it by the school doctor," notes the then headmaster. That's just one of the trials and tribulations of a nineteenth- century pupil their modern-day counterparts have been learning about as the school uses its centenary to explain to youngsters about days gone by.

Head teacher Andy Withers said: "It is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the milestone of 100 years of education at Foundry Lane.

"It's a tremendous amount of fun. It is living history for the children and the nice thing is that we have been able to include people from all eras of the school's past. They have come and told their stories.

"The children have been really excited. What we have been doing all through the school year is, starting with the opening, we have worked through 100 years of history.

"We have had a Victorian classroom day, a Second World War day, which was interesting because the school was closed for a time during the war. We were able to share the information with the children. There was even a letter from a soldier who stayed at the school during the war.

"There was also a lot of folklore about what happened on the site at that time.

"People said a bomb landed on the school field. We did some research and found that five soldiers had died in the explosion and we found the names of three of them in Hollybrook Cemetery.

"We have got a Sixties and Seventies day coming up, which will include a community disco, and I am already looking forward to wearing an Afro wig," he added.

The school, which is holding a series of reunions for pupils and staff from across the last century, is appealing to the community for anyone with pictures and tales of Foundry Lane to get in touch and fill in a few more gaps in its fascinating past.