George Stephenson High School

George Stephenson High School
Established 1953
Type Foundation school
Headteacher Mr I D Wilkinson (2009- present)
Location Southgate
Killingworth
Tyne and Wear
NE12 6SA
England England Coordinates: 55°01′59″N 1°34′02″W / 55.03316°N 1.56716°W
Local authority North Tyneside
DfE number 392/4030
DfE URN 108639 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 913
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–18
Former name George Stephenson Grammar School
Website GSHS

George Stephenson High School is a large secondary school in the English town of Killingworth, North Tyneside.

Admissions

The school provides education to pupils from Killingworth, Backworth, Shiremoor, West Moor,and West Allotment.

The school is situated opposite The Killingworth Centre (Morrisons)

History

Grammar school

It was called the George Stephenson Grammar School in 1953, at which time it was built on Benton Lane (the Great Lime Road) in West Moor. (George Stephenson lived nearby in a cottage when he worked at Killingworth Colliery.) The current school site in Killingworth is a replacement that opened in 1970, and was originally known as Killingworth High School, a comprehensive, but eventually took the George Stephenson name from the old school. The old school no longer exists; as it was demolished in 2004.

The headmaster since the opening of the old school in 1953 was Tom W. King, BA. He became headmaster of the new school and finally retired around the end of the 1981-1982 school year. When he died in 2004 at the age of 94, a plaque reading "Here, from 1956 to 2004, stood a Place of Learning" was placed on the wall of the West Moor Residents Association Community Centre, which now stands on the site of the old grammar school.

Each year group in the grammar school had 3 streams, L, G, and F. The L stream studied 3 years of Latin, 2 of German, and 5 of French. The G stream took German and French.

The popularity of the grammar school was such that it had expanded over the years from about 350 pupils (the capacity of the original main building) to about 600 (by the addition of prefabricated classrooms at the rear of the school).

Until 1970 the school had regular morning assemblies for all pupils. The school hymn was "Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer". The school motto was Praesis Ut Prosis.

Comprehensive

It became a comprehensive school in 1970 with the move from the West Moor site to the Killingworth site. From 2004-5, the headteacher, Anne Welsh, was President of the Secondary Heads Association (SHA).

Charity

The Charity that the school is fund-raising for in 2010-11 is 'The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation'. This charity raises money to help fund new Cancer treatments. The charity is based in the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, England This year the selected charity is the toma fund raising money to help children battling through cancer.

Buildings

The school is split into several "blocks": the A block, C Block, F Block, G Block, and P.E. Block. G block, F block and P.E block are freestanding buildings; C block and A block are attached by a small corridor, built in 2001, containing two music rooms and a drama room.

Alumni

George Stephenson Grammar School

See also

External links

News items