The City School (Sheffield)
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The City School, Stradbroke Road, Sheffield, England, was formerly known as City Grammar School (which operated from 1964 to 1969 at the present site, and before that at premises in the city centre).
According to the data for The City School in the December 2005 OFSTED Inspection Report:[1]
- Local Education Authority - Sheffield
- Type of school - Secondary
- School category - Community
- Age range of pupils - 11 to 16
- Gender of pupils - Mixed (55% boys)
- Number on roll - 1492
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[edit] History of the School
Before being renamed as The City School, in 1969, the Stradbroke Road establishment had been (1964-1969) City Grammar School (CGS). CGS itself had previously occupied premises in Sheffield city centre where, until 1941, it had been the Sheffield Pupil Teacher Centre (SPTC). The original institution dates from the 1890's.
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 13 in England and Wales and established local School Boards. The main function of these bodies was to use local rates (taxes) to finance the building of schools in cases where the range of existing establishments was inadequate. A driving force behind the Act was a perceived need for Britain to remain competitive in the world by being at the forefront of manufacture and improvement. The only existing formal education until this time had been in Church schools and some ragged schools for the poor. Between 1870 and 1880, 3000-4000 schools were started or taken over by school boards.
The resulting new schools consequently required larger numbers of teachers. Furthermore, higher standards of educational attainment came to be expected in schools, so the quality of the teachers also needed to be raised. It became necessary, therefore, to develop efficient and affordable methods of improving the standards of teacher training. The solution adopted, along the 1870s, 80's and 90s, was the education of "pupil teachers" for a four-year period (14-18 years of age) in specific training Centres. [2]
In Sheffield, the number of such Centres peaked at 11 establishments in the period 1881 to 1884, but it was later decided that the system would become more efficient with the centralisation of teacher training activities of this type in just one Centre. In 1894 the School Board purchased the premises formerly occupied by the old Free Writing School in School Croft, in the city centre, and in February of that year Mr. J. G. Picknet became head of the "Central Higher School". Two years later it was decided that this old building should be scheduled for demolition and that a new Centre should be constructed at a nearby site at the corner of Orchard Lane and Holly Street.
The new Sheffield Pupil Teacher Centre building was innaugurated on the 9th. of October 1899 by Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire. An Alumni Association, the "Holly Guild" was formed around 1904 and the first official number of the school magazine "The Holly Leaf: A Chronicle of the Sheffield City Grammar School" was printed in 1907 (up to this time it had been distributed in handwritten format).
Pupil numbers declined from 376 in 1906 to 143 in 1912, but subsequent rapid increases in the period 1915 to 1920 led to the necessity to contract thirteen additional members of staff and classes also had to be held at other premises at Carver Street, Townhead Street, Arundel Street (College of Arts and Crafts) and the Central School in addition to the Centre itself. In 1922 the Centre implemented an annual admission of four forms of boys and girls who had qualified via the 11 plus examination, and it effectively became a Secondary School. [3]
The idea of pupil-teachership lost support over the following two decades and Sheffield was one of the last two surviving urban authorities to maintain a Centre of this type. (The system was eventually discontinued in the city in 1944). The SPTC moved into premises at Orchard Lane on September 11th, 1933 and changed its name to the City Secondary School shortly after the appointment of the new Head Master, Mr Northeast, in 1935. In 1941 it was again renamed, becoming City Grammar School.
The United Kingdom's secondary education structure was organised according to the Tripartite System between the 1944 Butler Education Act and 1976. This was known colloquially as the grammar school system. Secondary schools were divided into three categories, Grammar schools, Technical schools and Secondary Modern Schools. Pupils allocated to each according to their performance in the Eleven Plus examination.
The new Sheffield City Grammar School adopted the Phoenix as its symbol and maintained the traditional SPTC school song "Carmen Ilicis", composed by Edward H. Taylor L.R.A.M. (music) and Alan W. Goodfellow, M.A. (lyrics), the first verse and chorus of which are:
The Oak, the Ash, the bonny Ivy tree
Are known in story, famed in song ;
But we who know thee, certain are
That, search the woodland near or far,
Ye ne'er will find, tho' seek ye long,
A bush so worthy song or eulogy
As Centre's Holly - ever green.
Semper discamus
Ut doceamus
Nil nisi verum, nil nisi verum.
Sive docemur,
Sive docemus,
Vitam degamus
Ut maneamus
Omnes amici, omnes amici !
CGS continued at the city centre site until 19 February 1964 when the first assembly was held for the 760 pupils at the newly-completed, £300,000, Stradbroke Road premises.
The April 1969, Spring Edition of the Holly Leaf carried an editorial which began with "NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN...that the City Council of Sheffield propose to re-organise, from September 1969, the City Grammar School to form a co-educational comprehensive school." It continued, regarding the choice of a name for the new institute; "For a time we looked like becoming Bashforth School...good sense and the persistent efforts of the Head-master prevailed, and September will see the creation of City School." The editorial finishes; "Good luck, City School."
The current City School is described as "a specialist business and enterprise college" and has a staff of around 130 to teach the almost 1500, 11-16 year old pupils. The school maintains the traditional red Phoenix on a green background as its logo. Ms. Julie Warne is (2006) Headteacher and Mr. Ken Dunn (Royal Geographical Society's Teacher of the Year) is Assistant Headteacher.
[edit] Headmasters and Principals (SPTC & CGS)
- 1920 - 1931, Joseph Batey, Principal (S.P.T.C.)
- 1931 - 1934, Alfred Meetham, Principal (S.P.T.C.)
- 1935 - 1950, Stephen Northeast, Headmaster (S.P.T.C./CGS)
- 1950 - 1955, Ronald H. Davies, Headmaster (CGS)
- 1956 - 1969, Lindsay Harvatt, Headmaster (CGS)
[edit] Notable alumni
- Roy Hattersley, Labour politician (City Grammar)
- Sir Peter E. Middleton GCB - English banker, current Chancellor of the University of Sheffield
- Jarvis Cocker, Musician
[edit] References
- ^ OFSTED report, City School, Dec 2005, accessed 3 Dec 2006
- ^ History and Memories of S.P.T.C. through to C.G.S.
- ^ YOU WILL HAVE A NEW BUILDING SOON - written 1963 by Stephen Northeast - former Headmaster
[edit] See also
- Education in the United Kingdom
- Butler Education Act
- The tripartite system in UK education (1944-76)
- Grammar Schools in the United Kingdom
- Secondary Modern School
- Secondary Technical School
- Eleven Plus
- Comprehensive System
- Debates on the Grammar School
