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What School Did You Go To And Has It Changed Much Since You Left ?


Sheffield History

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Many schools have been knocked down/replaced recently so thought it would be interesting to start a thread and find out which school you went to in Sheffield and whether it's still there..

Which one did you go to and what do you remember about it ?

Is it still there or has it gone ?

Has it closed down ?

Has it been replaced ?

What teachers do you remember ?

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I started at Shortbrook Middle school (the one in the opening credits of The Full Monty) Mr Chalkley and miss Willis were my teachers. I then went to westfield Grammer, which became, westfield lower School at Halfway. Demolished now of course, I remember the covered walkways between classrooms, and the doors that were all glass windows, that on hot days 9when we had them, could be opened up. i then went to the upper school at Mosbrough, again now demolished. I remember having to wlak over the spilled coal outside the A block Kitchens, after the deliveries, the fact the K block didn't have a single working toilet, and none of the toilets had doors!

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I started at Bolehill School at Walkley in Sheffield, sadly now a gym. Secondary school was Myers Grove at Stannington which has now been demolished and a superb new school re-built on the site. I went to have a look when it first opened last Autumn and the kids should be very grateful for having such a modern and beautiful school to learn in.

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I started at Bolehill School at Walkley in Sheffield, sadly now a gym. Secondary school was Myers Grove at Stannington which has now been demolished and a superb new school re-built on the site. I went to have a look when it first opened last Autumn and the kids should be very grateful for having such a modern and beautiful school to learn in.

I have seen and worked in some of these PFI (private funding initiative) new build schools built on the same site and in many cases I consider them not to be as good or as well built as the original school buildings.

In fact many of them have a maintainence service contract and a life expectancy of the building before demolition and rebuild of only 25 to 30 years.

Would anyone buy a brand new house with a 25 to 30 year mortgage, knowing that when it was paid up the building was ready for demolition?

I think not.

The older school buildings they replaced may have been old and dated and in need of extra maintainance and refurbishment, but at least they were built to last.

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Norfolk School

Three quarters of it has been demolished, a part of which has a few houses on. The remaining quarter is now an "Educational Special Unit". A new junior school has been built on a different site outside Norfolk Park.

Arbourthorne Junior School

Demolished and rebuilt on the same site

Manor Lane School

Currently closed and undergoing "modifications", likely to reopen as something other than a school

Hurlfield School

Now demolished and rebuilt on the same site as Springs Academy, - one of the new academies.

Waltheof School

This seems to have met the same fate as Hurlfiels School (see above)

Ashleigh School

Both the upper and lower school buildings demolished and are now small housing estates

Frechville School

Demolished and replaced with housing

Newfield School

Upper and lower schools replaced with a new building on the same site (saves walking between the two between lessons)

Gleadless Valley School

I thought that this was now Bents Green School , but I am informed that it is in fact "long gone"

Rowlinson School

Now part of Norton College, with the newer Meadowhead School on an adjacent site

So, - how many of our traditional schools are left?

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Norfolk School

Three quarters of it has been demolished, a part of which has a few houses on. The remaining quarter is now an "Educational Special Unit". A new junior school has been built on a different site outside Norfolk Park.

Arbourthorne Junior School

Demolished and rebuilt on the same site

Manor Lane School

Currently closed and undergoing "modifications", likely to reopen as something other than a school

Hurlfield School

Now demolished and rebuilt on the same site as Springs Academy, - one of the new academies.

Waltheof School

This seems to have met the same fate as Hurlfiels School (see above)

Ashleigh School

Both the upper and lower school buildings demolished and are now small housing estates

Frechville School

Demolished and replaced with housing

Newfield School

Upper and lower schools replaced with a new building on the same site (saves walking between the two between lessons)

Gleadless Valley School

I thought that this was now Bents Green School , but I am informed that it is in fact "long gone"

Rowlinson School

Now part of Norton College, with the newer Meadowhead School on an adjacent site

So, - how many of our traditional schools are left?

Was Meadowhead School previously known as Jordanthorpe School, maybe Boys and Girls as there were 2 old Meadowhead Schools on the same site before being replaced by the present school.

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Was Meadowhead School previously known as Jordanthorpe School, maybe Boys and Girls as there were 2 old Meadowhead Schools on the same site before being replaced by the present school.

Possibly,

There was a Jordanthorpe School when we were at school but there isn't one today. I thought the Jordanthorpe school was on the estate though and not up at Meadowhead, could be wrong on that.

So to add to the list Jordanthorpe School, now gone, replaced with Meadowhead School.

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Frecheville ...? Spelling check only. There was a branch of W Hartley Seed there in the 70's = my entire knowledge of Frecheville.

Frechville School

Demolished and replaced with housing

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Remember a branch of fred hartleys at frecheville

Remind me who W Hartley Seed were

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That's the fella, junk and warehouse clearance (one near The Five Arches). W. Hartley Seed = my error, think it was the bookshop on West Street and therefore nothing to do with anything.

Remember a branch of fred hartleys at frecheville

Remind me who W Hartley Seed were

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That's the fella, junk and warehouse clearance (one near The Five Arches). W. Hartley Seed = my error, think it was the bookshop on West Street and therefore nothing to do with anything.

Also sold Car stuff

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That's the fella, junk and warehouse clearance (one near The Five Arches). W. Hartley Seed = my error, think it was the bookshop on West Street and therefore nothing to do with anything.

I think that is correct, W. Hartley Seed was a bookshop.

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I went to Concord Middle School which has been demolished! And Colley Comprehensive School, which I notice on my last visit, has also been flattened! :(

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Thornbridge when it was a Grammar School, still there but called something else now. Great memories. Mr Snook the headmaster and author of our Latin text book, Miss Hannington our French teacher, (ooh! la la) she taught us the language and French history, 1789 is burned in my memory. Miss Cox the history teacher, not much older than her students, in fact, she married one. I wonder how that would go down today? Mr Gould the gentle giant who scruffed me by the tie and lifted me up until my feet were dangling in mid air. I got what I deserved! And Miss Laine our English teacher who we affectionately called 'Bronco' but never in class, after all, this was a grammar school, we were the elite, we had to maintain some decorum. :)

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Thornbridge when it was a Grammar School, still there but called something else now.

Where exactly was / is Thornbridge school?

I have this habit of getting Frecheville, Thornbridge and Birley schools a bit mixed up at times due to their close proximity

My earlier reference to Frecheville school was the one on Fox Lane

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Miss Hannington our French teacher, (ooh! la la) she taught us the language and French history, 1789 is burned in my memory.

Teaching French history in English schools!!! :o :o :o

What a REVOLUTIONARY idea

If it was suggested now someone would LOSE THEIR HEAD for it

I wonder if common events to both countries histories like the 100 years war and the Napoleonic wars and other conflicts we have had with France over the last 1000 years are taught in the same way and with the same emphasis in both French history and English history lessons in the same school? :unsure:

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Where exactly was / is Thornbridge school?

I have this habit of getting Frecheville, Thornbridge and Birley schools a bit mixed up at times due to their close proximity

My earlier reference to Frecheville school was the one on Fox Lane

Frecheville School on Fox Lane, Thornbridge School at the top of Thornbridge Drive, Birley School fronted Birley Lane which ran from The Old Harrow to Birley Moor Road then down into old Hackenthorpe village. Thats the route we took when we cycled to school but it was a route fraught with danger. The Birley kids hated us, if they caught us, they would trash our schoolbooks and beat us up. It all came to a head after one pupil had his arm broken and severe warnings were issued at morning assembly in both schools.

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Frecheville School on Fox Lane

Glad I got that one right then

I have just done a post on here a few back about the demise of Frecheville school.

As far as i know, but I need to check it,

Thornbridge School, now also gone

Birley School, still there and seems to be still in use.

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I went to Chaucer School. There is nothing left of the lower school as it has been completely cleared. The Upper school (at the bottom) has been reduced in size and now appears to be some kind of college. They have built a large ASDA on the playing fields.

It was a very rough school in a poor area and there were 1500 pupils when I was there in the mid 1980s.

The lower school was in a terrible state. It was a 1960s ? Construction with a concrete frame, but all the windows and wall panels that were not brick were cheap and nasty. By the end of the 1980s, many of the windows had been boarded up with wood because they had started to fall out and were dangerous.

Everything was covered in chewing gum it was a shocking school.

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I went to Chaucer School.

The Upper school (at the bottom)

Why is it that every Sheffield school that ended up as 2 buildings on a single site (and there are several examples, like Ashleigh) was split into a "lower school" for years 1,2 and 3 (years 7,8 and 9) which was invariably at the top of a hill, and an upper school for years 4, 5 (years 10 and 11) and possibly a 6th form, all exam years which was at the bottom of the hill. :blink:

No logic in that at all.

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I have seen and worked in some of these PFI (private funding initiative) new build schools built on the same site and in many cases I consider them not to be as good or as well built as the original school buildings.

In fact many of them have a maintainence service contract and a life expectancy of the building before demolition and rebuild of only 25 to 30 years.

Would anyone buy a brand new house with a 25 to 30 year mortgage, knowing that when it was paid up the building was ready for demolition?

I think not.

The older school buildings they replaced may have been old and dated and in need of extra maintainance and refurbishment, but at least they were built to last.

Sorry don't agree I stick by what I said and think the kids have a superb place to learn that was my point not getting a mortguage!! I remember our schools being old, dank and boring, this new school and all new schools are brighter and more modern which is better than the old. Maybe they will knock it down in 30 or so years, but, they will again build something better and modern. If private monies are not building to your standards and you are involved, then it is up to you to say something surely, is it not?

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Sorry don't agree I stick by what I said and think the kids have a superb place to learn that was my point not getting a mortguage!! I remember our schools being old, dank and boring, this new school and all new schools are brighter and more modern which is better than the old. Maybe they will knock it down in 30 or so years, but, they will again build something better and modern. If private monies are not building to your standards and you are involved, then it is up to you to say something surely, is it not?

I accept your point, but eventually it all comes down to money.

Old schools were, as you say, "old, dank and boring" because they were not properly maintained and modernised when they should have been to save money.

New school are built down to a price, usually from 3 tenders, with a service contract for a limited time period only, typically 25 years.

The "new school" I work in is 9 years old now and is already requiring a lot of work doing and is looking very tardy, - similar to what the old school looked like before it closed.

Building schools is a big money job, £30million for the one I work in so it is not really the people who work in the building that make these decisions, it is down to Council and Education committee officials that control the budget to build them.

Yes it would be nice to have clean, new, modern school buildings to work in, but the expense of keeping it like that prevents it from being practical for very long.

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But surely there is a maintenance contract built in to the tender and if not why not? Is the question I would be asking. Even if the maintenance contract was for a fixed period, say 3 or 5 years it could be re- tendered for so that the upkeep of the property was to an agreed standard. I know other government astablishments, departments etc have them built in more and more as privatisation takes over.

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