Mitchell High School (England)

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The Mitchell High School in Stoke-on-Trent was named after Reginald Mitchell who invented the Spitfire.

The current headteacher, Ms Debbie Sanderson was awarded an OBE in 2006 for her efforts in turning the school around from one of the worst performing schools in the country to its current position as a nationally acclaimed flagship school.

See a case study from The Pacific Institute about Mitchell.

The school colours are Black, Gold and Red.

The school is mixed gender and mixed culture and currently exceeds its maximum limit of students. "The Mitchell" as it is often called, is the most popular school of its area.

You can find out more about Mitchell from their website.

Ofsted Report on Mitchell High

The Mitchell High School is situated near Berryhill High School.

[edit] History of the school

The current school building was erected in around 1950 and was the new home of Hanley High School, which had previously moved from the centre of Hanley due to subsidence in its original building. Hanley High School had been around since the early 1900s and at the time of moving to their new building was still a Grammar school.

It changed status from Grammar school to Comprehensive school in the 1970s and kept its original name up until around 1990 when it was renamed to The Mitchell High school.

The design of the school building is typical of many other municipal buildings built not long after World War II. It was a time when there was a real threat from Nuclear warfare and so the government decided that it would be a good idea to have contingency plans in place to deal with the aftermath of such an event. Hence it was designed in such a way that it could take on the role of a mortuary capable of storing hundreds of bodies after a nuclear attack.

There are also signs of access to an underground bunker or air-raid shelter near to the school, though it is thought that these were filled in many years ago.

Mitchell is now (2006) the subject of plans from the local education authority for another move to a new building. At present these plans have not been finalised, though it is expected to happen by 2010.