AS a kid, I always found the exterior of Morecambe High School to be rather intimidating. With the passing of time, that bleak and imposing frontage hasn't changed a bit.

Looking more like a museum than a secondary school, the main building still looms large over any nervous new pupil taking the first tentative steps through the door.

As I enter the 'Crush Hall' foyer of what is now Morecambe Community High School on a crisp, blue-skied morning in February 2008, I rack my brains to recall my own first day as a pupil, way back in early September 1983.

The memories are sketchy, but mainly negative. Then again, most kids are terrified when they start secondary school.

It's mainly fear – both of the unknown and of what they've been told to expect from the exaggerated teasings of their peers – a horrible life of Biology lessons dissecting frogs, queueing for TB jabs and being forced to do Friday afternoon cross-country runs buck-naked in the freezing cold.

But high school wasn't really like that, not ALL the time anyway. While not exactly the 'best days of my life' (I was bullied quite a lot) there were still a few good times; like a school trip to Paris, taking three wickets against Ripley in an inter-schools cricket final, representing MHS on a TV quiz show and meeting my future wife...

I am snapped back to the present day by a blast from the past – Bev Tattersall on reception, asking me to sign in as a visitor. Or Bev Farr, as I knew her throughout school days. A former pupil from my year, clearly Mrs Tattersall loved Morecambe High so much, she came back to work here!

Then Sue Seal, PA to the head teacher, introduces me and Visitor photographer Steve Pendrill to our guides for the day, Year 10 pupils Alex Albiston and Jordan Acton.

Our first port of call is the Lawther Library. Outside I am greeted by my old French teacher, Mr Esslemont. It does feel quite strange to shake his hand and call him 'Andy'.

The Lawther Library replaced the stuffy old Sixth Form Library several years ago and is a vast improvement. But for sentimental nostalgia buffs like me, it's a shame they also got rid of the old Sixth Form Lecture Theatre, having spent many a happy hour in there in 1988-90 being lectured on history... and life... by Mr Linton.

Kids from Year 10 and Year 12 (that's fourth year and Sixth Form) are gathering for a Science lesson. Except this isn't just any old Science lesson.

Willow Water, a Flookburgh-based company who supply drinking water for organisations including Manchester City and Tottenham football clubs, are doing a trial at the school to stress the importance of drinking healthily.

Clwyd Price-Jones, managing director of Willow Water, and Science teacher Mr Sinclair are hosting a presentation to the students. Turns out Mr Sinclair is married to my old art teacher Miss Horne, who still works at the school.

To introduce the Willow Water Challenge, Mr Sinclair begins talking about global warming and scientists' different theories on it, while using a laptop to scroll through various slides.

What an advance in technology. This sure beats those clanking overhead projectors my teachers used to struggle with.

There is silence in class as the kids listen intently.

The Willow Water Challenge is for each pupil to drink 1.5 litres of water every day for six weeks and monitor any changes in their skin condition.

Mr Sinclair then sets a task. The pupils are asked to drink sample A and sample B of Willow Water – in a healthier version of the old TV Pepsi Challenge – and then describe the taste of each.

They fill in their findings on slips of paper, then later there will be a draw with the winner receiving tickets to see Man City play Tottenham Hotspur.

Giving away Premiership football tickets as prizes, in class? Cripes, Science lessons are a whole lot more exciting than in my day, when setting off the gas taps was about the only highlight of Chemistry.

At 9.40am we return to the main building, to see if my old stomping ground has changed much. It hasn't... although the former Main School library is now a staff room, most of the teaching rooms are in exactly the same place as they were two decades ago.

Returning to the Crush Hall, I sneak into the back of the Main Hall to watch the school's performance of Bugsy Malone, being shown for an audience of local primary schoolchildren.

The Main Hall hasn't changed either. I reminisce about exams, assemblies, Charities Day and 'performing' in the Sixth Form Revue, while I watch today's budding thespians tread the boards.

Directed by drama tutor Colin Campbell, 'Bugsy' is certainly much better organised than our clumsy Sixth Form efforts of 19 years ago.

The kids are very talented and many look really confident on stage. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. And in another link to my own school days, Bugsy is played by Jamie Tibke, son of my old music teacher.

After leaving the Main Hall, I wander up the corridor and bump into my PE teacher, and now deputy head, Mr Worth. As with Mr Esslemont, calling him 'John' doesn't half feel uncomfortable.

I enquire after Mr Worth's colleague, my old Games teacher Alan Alker.

Something of a legend among Morecambe males aged 11 to 41, it turns out Mr Alker recently had a hip operation but – in typically indestructible fashion – still popped into the school the previous day on crutches.

Images of the great man yelling "LAMBERT! Don't throw the ball away!" during those hated rugby lessons come flooding back...

10.10am... the bell sounds for breaktime as I exit the school into the rear playground and, hoping to miss the rampaging hordes of students, duck into the spanking new Technology block.

The main school building may remain a relic, but the Technology block is a futuristic paradise. It's like being in a real modern laboratory and the various gadgets are mightily impressive.

In the CAD/CAM Suite (that's Computer Aided De-sign/Computer Aided Manu-facture), student Chris Rawlins – his sister Vicky was playing 'Knuckles' in Bugsy, by the way – is programming a computer, hooked up to a dazzling machine called a 3D High Speed Router, to carve perfect grooves in a chunk of wood.

How Woodwork classes have changed! In my day we spent tedious months hand-chiselling a piece of wood into something loosely resembling a fish. Now computers do all the work.

Next, it was on to the Sports Hall. During my time at MHS in the 1980s, this was like the Holy Grail, or the Heysham-M6 link. It took years for the school to get permission to build it.

It was definitely worth the wait. The grubby changing pavilion of my school days has been pulled down, to be replaced by a state-of-the-art leisure complex.

As we arrive at the Sports Hall, we spy legendary Outdoor Pursuits teacher 'Gibbi' Gibbison pulling away in his van. It could be a flashback to 1983, except the battered red minibus we had to cramp ourselves into for arduous cricket trips to Ulverston has been replaced by a much-bigger, cleaner white vehicle.

Inside now, and the main Sports Hall is massive, ideal for basketball and five-a-side, or badminton on this day. Year 7 girls are playing under the watchful eye of Sports teacher Jenny Evans.

As we take a look around the Hall, I ask our guides Jordan and Alex if they like sport (usually a good conversation ice-breaker with a teenager).

It turns out they both play for school teams, and their eyes light up as they recall their victory over Central Lancaster High in the previous night's football match.

They also confirm they still do those much-feared cross country runs whenever it's too wet for ball games!

10.25am – Into the old Housecraft Block, home of Cookery (or 'Home Economics' as it was bizarrely called) but now also the ICT or computing department.

As Morecambe Community High School now has ICT specialist status, a lot of emphasis is placed on computing. And with good reason, because computer skills are required for so many jobs these days.

Nice also to see lots of wall posters about 'cyber bullying'. It's a growing problem, so the kids are given a lot of information to protect themselves from evil influences when they are online.

And of course, computer lessons are unrecognisable from 25 years ago.

While we used to read about ROM and RAM in cumbersome textbooks and play slow-moving darts games on rickety machines, today the students create slick animated cartoons on modern PCs. They really don't know they're born!

10.40am – I dart back into the main building through the old Link Block and it's up the back stairwell for a quick tour of upstairs, which reveals that nothing much has changed over the past two decades. The second floor really could do with a lick of paint – especially the ceilings, which are riddled with damp.

Downstairs, a quick visit to the school Gym (the changing rooms have been replaced by a Fitness Suite with exercise machines), then back outside and across to the Sixth Form Centre.

I'm shocked to see the Common Room, which has been transformed into a slick café bar with modern decor. And chilled-out R n B music plays while giggling Sixth Formers, clearly enjoying a free period, relax on plush sofas.

Feeling rather envious, as the facilities for soon-to-be school-leavers have drastically improved since I was in Sixth Form, I quickly make my exit.

11.15am – Having finished my tour, and thanked my guides for their help, I have an audience with the new Head, John McNaughton. Far from your typical 'old school' head master, Mr McNaughton is not an intimidating disciplinarian but more a calm influence with clear ideas of future direction for the school.

These include refurbishing the Main Hall, hopefully over the summer, possibly with a Midland Hotel-style 'Art Deco' look. There are also plans for a new all-weather hard court sports pitch behind the old 'Housecraft Block.

As for the damp upstairs, Mr McNaughton admits that there are many other changes he would love to make: "If someone would like to give me some money!"

We chat about my experiences of the day and the positive moves made at Morecambe High since my time at school. He says lessons have become more geared towards preparing children for real life, and that students have more opportunities to give feedback on their learning and have a say in school decisions.

Pupils and parents are continually informed about their progress in lessons, so that underachievement can be identified quickly and support offered.

I am also pleased to hear about the school's efforts on keeping bullies in check. Recently Morecambe High received a Diana anti-bullying award, there is a Seniors System where older students look out for the younger ones, and an ethos called SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) which teaches kids respect and consideration in their relationships with each other.

But the biggest recent change was to add the word 'Community' into the school's name. Mr McNaughton says this is very significant.

"Morecambe Community High School is a true comprehensive school to serve the needs of the area," he says.

"The word 'community' has been added to our name to stress that. It means no parent should need to look outside Morecambe for their child's education."

But clearly some parents want to send their children elsewhere, judging by recent report by a Lancaster City Council education task force.

When asked why he thinks some mums and dads feel this way, Mr McNaughton says it's all about trying to change perceptions.

"I think we need to encourage more parents to come into school and see what we are doing," he says.

The message is clear. Any parent can phone the school and make an appointment to look around, just as I did. And certainly it helped alter my perception of Morecambe Community High School.

It may not be perfect – no school is – but it's certainly made rapid strides in recent years and parts have been transformed since my time there.

The same can be said for any of the secondary schools in the Lancaster and Morecambe district.

Parents should take the time to visit Heysham High, Carnforth, Our Lady's, Central or any of the others, before making a life-changing decision to educate their young ones miles out of town.

You can't always believe what you hear from others, just as you can't judge a book by its cover.

And although from the outside it's true that Morecambe Community High School still looks as imposing as ever, inside those four walls there are some very encouraging signs indeed.