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Birthday Celebrations For The School Teaching Forces Children

Today marks the 50th birthday of a school which educates forces children from 14 different countries, including Britain.

SHAPE International School serves NATO's military headquarters, near Mons in Belgium.

To mark the occasion former pupils from the school's British section have been united, as well as one of the original teachers from 1967.

The celebrations have also seen 2,500 of its students on the march, including around 150 forces children from the British section.

Headteacher Rowley Bucknill says few other learning establishments are quite like this one:

"[There are] 14 different national sections on one campus, integrated activities, amazing opportunities really for the children to be able to learn."

"The international side is really quite a unique feature of this place."

The school was founded in Paris in the 1950s but in 1967 France withdrew from NATO's military structure, meaning it had to move to Belgium.

Former British Deputy Head Howard Frost remembers the challenges faced in September that year.

"That school was put up in an amazingly fast way. Not surprisingly, there were problems."

"We had the central heating often going off just as it was getting cold. We had electricity cuts, no lights and we had leaks in the roof... upstairs, which was a bit of a surprise."

The school has played a big part in former pupil Tammy Pattenden's life. She's since returned as a teacher, after her husband was posted to Belgium.

Both her children are now at the school too. She said:

"Coming back the second time round it was very familiar. It was wonderful. I walked through the doors and the smell hadn't changed. It's like going through a time tunnel."

Today the school's British section teaches children up to the age of 11 - who sang its praises when Forces Network spoke to them. Eight-year-old Ava said:

"I'm going to be very sad when I leave this school because it's really nice... I just find it a nice, kinder, caring school and I just really don't want to leave it."

There's exciting times ahead though. The school's British section is being replaced by a brand new £130 million version, which should be up and running by next summer.