Calderstones School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Calderstones School is an English comprehensive school located on Harthill Road in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton. It was founded in 1922 as Quarry Bank High School and its first intake of pupils was on 11 January 1922. The school's motto is in Latin, and reads "Ex hoc metallo virtutem" - "Out of this rough metal, we forge virtue".
In 1961, in a move deemed years ahead of its time, long-serving headmaster W. E Pobjoy took the decision to abolish corporal punishment. In 1967 Quarry Bank High (boys only) merged with neighbouring Calder High School (girls) and nearby Morrison School and adopted the name Quarry Bank Comprehensive School. The same year saw the abolition of the school's house system, whereby the pupils were divided between Mersey, Esmeduna, Wavertree, Sefton, Allerton, Childwall, Aigburth and Woolton Houses. In 1985 "the QB" merged with Aigburth Vale High School, which left the school operating at four discrete locations and with 1800 pupils; it was also then that it adopted its current name. In 1989 the school divested itself of its Aigburth and Morrison facilities, retaining only the original Calder House and Quarry Bank estates. A new building to replace the old Morrison Wing site was built within the existing School Site. The old Morrison Wing is now home to a Tesco Superstore on Mather Avenue in Allerton. Aigburth Vale High School also no longer exists and is now home to a number of Private Apartments.
In 2001, the School underwent a major refurbishment as part of the Private Finance Initiative scheme. The entire site has been overhauled with the old Calder Wing now virtually demolished. Only Calder House is now left from the old Calder Wing and this now houses the 6th Form. A new Arts Wing has been built which houses the English, MFL, Arts and Music departments. The old Quarry Wing was divided up into 2 separate buildings. One is Quarry House which houses both the ICT and History departments whilst also containing the Main Office for the School. The main classroom core of the Quarry Wing is now known as the Science Wing and houses a very large number of Science Labs. The School was also awarded 'Specialist Science Status' in 2001 which allows it to provide first class science facilities for its pupils.
Among Quarry Bank's old boys are Labour Cabinet Ministers William Rodgers (who adopted the name "Quarry Bank" as part of his baronial title) and Peter Shore. So too did Peter Goldsmith (Lord Goldsmith of Allerton) who was appointed as the Labour government's Attorney General in 2001. Actors Derek Nimmo and Judith Kelly also studied there. Current FA Chief Executive Brian Barwick was also an attendee. Perhaps most famously, Beatle John Lennon also attended the school. Lennon named his first band the Quarry Men, since most of the members were also pupils there, and also to improve their chances of getting to play at school events.
Other old boys of Quarry include Les Dennis, the TV personality, Clive Barker, writer of countless books and the films Hellraiser and Candyman, , actor Doug Bradley who played the 'Pinhead' character in Hellraiser and John Power previously a member of The La's and founder member of Cast.
[edit] Nearby
Calderstones Park is just across the road from the school's premises. The parish church of All Hallows Allerton, at the bottom of Harthill Road and across from the school's playing fields, boasts an unequalled display of stained glass windows made by William Morris from Edward Burne-Jones's designs.
