Norfolk School, Arbourthorne

[Guest suzy]

So I wonder when they did move that disabled unit off that corridor then?

I'm sure it was there all the time I was at the school, all the way through secondary school up to 1972

As students we were supposed to be "banned" from going up that corridor anyway.

However, the entrance to the boys toilets was up that corridor so you had no choice but to use the bottom section just to get to the toilets.

You may not remember it because the corresponding girls toilets were on the main corridor.

My mind must be playing tricks on me because I thought you had to go up a couple of steps to get to the girls toilets that were at the bottom of the corridor Was that another corridor or for some strange reason was I in the boys toilet Could do with some sort of sketch so that I get it clear in my head.

[DaveH]

My mind must be playing tricks on me because I thought you had to go up a couple of steps to get to the girls toilets that were at the bottom of the corridor Was that another corridor or for some strange reason was I in the boys toilet Could do with some sort of sketch so that I get it clear in my head.

Yes I keep promising a sketch of the entire school.

The girls toilets was a "walk through" (or a "run through" if you were a lad on a naughty dare ) so had 2 entrance points.

The first was on the main corridor right in the corner, the corner which was as far away from the headmasters office as you could get.

The other was, where you said, on that disabled corridor, but it was only the first door up and was about level with those steps in the corner of the top yard.

The entrance to the boys toilets, and there was only one, was just above this second entrance to the girls toilets (so a bit further up that corridor) and it went down a long narrow passage to get to the toilets which were effectively behind the girls toilets.

[DaveH]

A new door, and some new plumbing and underground services.

Where they enter the school used to be a cloakroom / washroom opposite the headmasters office.

There is now another new structure appearing at the opposite side of the main entrance where you used to be able to go down a set of steps into the bottom yard.

Not sure what it's supposed to be, but given its size and position it would make a very nice raised flower bed.

[DaveH]

Looking even better and still in keeping with the original now that it has got a matching roof.

This bit in the top yard is going to look really good.

Building in the top yard looks that good now it is nearly finished you can hardly see the join.

[DaveH]

Building in the top yard looks that good now it is nearly finished you can hardly see the join.

Which reminds me about a map / data sheet I saw on the fence.

As ex students of the old Junior school we instinctively refer to the playgrounds as "top yard" and "bottom yard", the names deriving from the gradient of the land, "top yard" being higher up the hill than "bottom yard", - which is only accessible from the school building at "basement level" or lower ground floor.

The site developers see it differently, - they refer to the new building by their Geographic location, so -

"Top Yard" building is known as "The New South Extension"

"Bottom Yard" building is known officially as "The New North Extension", but to us it is unofficially "The Liquorice Allsort Building"

[Guest suzy]

There is now another new structure appearing at the opposite side of the main entrance where you used to be able to go down a set of steps into the bottom yard.

Not sure what it's supposed to be, but given its size and position it would make a very nice raised flower bed.

Any more news on what this is???

[DaveH]

Any more news on what this is???

I don't know yet, but it certainly gets in the way of that stone staircase that leads down to the bottom yard.

I get the impression that this particular access point to the bottom yard is being closed off

But are they closing it off, -

1

For health & safety reasons

2

To keep intruders out

3

To keep the "inmates" in

Answewrs on a postcard please to

Sheffield Education Pupil Referal Unit

Brimmesfield Road

S2

Remember to include your name and address and your choice of answer.

First person to have their card drawn out of hat with the correct answer on it will win the prize which is, -

A day in the pupil referal unit! lol

[DaveH]

Any more news on what this is???

Latest picture of it

It appears to be just a fancy walkway with a few raised flower beds (very nice)

That wall behind has been partially rebuilt behind the skip indicating that the steps are now closed off.

[DaveH]

It looks the name "NORFOLK SCHOOL" has now gone for good from this particular building

The "school" is now called "SPRING LANE COLLEGE"

..even though this entrance isn't on Spring Lane, - it's on Brimmesfield Road! :P

[DaveH]

I can't even get away with calling it the "Pupil Referral Unit" any more!

It's now the "STUDENT INCLUSION SUPPORT CENTRE"

Stuart please note, STUDENT, not PUPIL

I suppose it's still a really nice, sanitised way of saying that it is still a place to send naughty kids that can't behave in a normal school.

My apologies on this next picture, but all that security fencing around the place fooled the autofocus on my camera so it focussed on the wrong thing!!

As that blurry writing above the arrow says "entrance down the stairs", and it's pointing in the right direction, and, in the previous post, the footpath curves in the right direction, then perhaps they are not going to close that staircase off after all! :huh:

[Guest wayneybabes]

just to let you know i am alive and well just been busy at work for the past couple of months

great pictures Dave, keep 'em coming!

cant wait to see the scaled plan of the school when you have done it.

your next mission is to build a full scale model of the school out of lego he he

[Guest wayneybabes]

It looks the name "NORFOLK SCHOOL" has now gone for good from this particular building

The "school" is now called "SPRING LANE COLLEGE"

..even though this entrance isn't on Spring Lane, - it's on Brimmesfield Road!

noooooooooooo!!!!!

norfolk school doesnt do curvy paths he he

[Guest wayneybabes]

Latest picture of it

It appears to be just a fancy walkway with a few raised flower beds (very nice)

That wall behind has been partially rebuilt behind the skip indicating that the steps are now closed off.

there is no truth in the rumour that this is to be the new '*** corner'

[DaveH]

just to let you know i am alive and well just been busy at work for the past couple of months

great pictures Dave, keep 'em coming!

cant wait to see the scaled plan of the school when you have done it.

your next mission is to build a full scale model of the school out of lego

It will be a plan but I am not sure about a SCALE plan, unless you can wangle yourself inside againto survey the place and measure it up a lot more accurately than an estate agent does.

The corridor nearest Brimmesfield Road has 3 classrooms on it, the opposite corridor nearest the secondary school only has 2. For the quad to have square corners both corridiors must be the same length and all the classrooms are the same size.

So how does that work then

I was going to say, - "how does that square up"

A full size model in lego would use a hell of a lot of lego and a space as big as the school

I do have some architectural software for designing buildings and it will convert a 2D plan into a 3D walk through model (a bit like kitchen and bathroom salesmen use).

If I had unlimited time I could knock a model up on that, but unfortunately it would exceed the 2Mb file size limit and unless other members had the same software they would not be able to display the plan / model.

[DaveH]

noooooooooooo!!!!!

norfolk school doesnt do curvy paths

Correct!

NORFOLK SCHOOL didn't do curvy paths.

But apparently SPRING LANE COLLEGE does do curvy paths

Remember it's not Norfolk School any more wayneybabes :(

[DaveH]

I can't even get away with calling it the "Pupil Referral Unit" any more!

It's now the "STUDENT INCLUSION SUPPORT CENTRE"

Stuart please note, STUDENT, not PUPIL

I suppose it's still a really nice, sanitised way of saying that it is still a place to send naughty kids that can't behave in a normal school.

At the school I work at the Student Inclusion Unit is not actually for bad kids and it is a support service for kids who have problems and who, mainly for very genuine reasons, find it difficult to attend school. Being in this unit is a support and not a punishment.

We also have an Internal Exclusion Unit, affectionately known as "The Slammer" (referenced from the film "The Great Escape") where instead of excluding kids from school that disrupt lessons they can be contained without ruining the education of other students.

We have both an Inclusion unit and an exclusion unit on site.

[DaveH]

there is no truth in the rumour that this is to be the new 'fag corner'

Many a true word spoken in jest wayneybabes.

A couple of years ago I was on holiday from school but Norfolk was still open. This happens because school holidays in Derbyshire and Sheffield do not always line up, - a constant problem when my son was still at school in Sheffield and I was working in Derbyshire.

Anyway, on my "day off" when Norfolk was open I was walking down Brimmesfield Road past the school.

There were 4 "youths" in the top yard who looked real thugs, all of them were just stood talking and smoking.

In the doorway at the side of that big room (library in my day) were 2 "supervisors" or teachers just stood watching them.

A bell went in the school, the supervisors told the boys to go back inside to their lessons as "break was over" and they calmy put out their cigarettes first and then compliantly walked quietly back into the building.

It was as if the staff accepted that these boys needed to smoke and that they were allowed to smoke during their break.

So, that new bit could well be a purpose built smokers corner. :o

[Guest wayneybabes]

A full size model in lego would use a hell of a lot of lego and a space as big as the school

Dave

If James May can build a house out of lego, a man of your talents should find building a school easy peasy

[DaveH]

Dave

If James May can build a house out of lego, a man of your talents should find building a school easy peasy

I think I must be a bit older than James May.

Although he likes proper old toys like Meccano, Airfix and lego I actually predate lego in popularity if not in production.

If you wanted to build a model house or piece of architecture (but not anything else) in the 1950's - early 60's the stuff to go for was BAYKO rather than LEGO.

Made in England by Plimpton Plastics it would be banned by todays health and safety regulations as the building was held up by sharp steel rods.

BAYKO BUILDINGS

[DaveH]

noooooooooooo!!!!!

norfolk school doesnt do curvy paths

Well, it looks like it does now.

These new paths between the school buildings and railings on Brimmesfield Road are very curvy and bendy.

[DaveH]

Latest picture of it

It appears to be just a fancy walkway with a few raised flower beds (very nice)

That wall behind has been partially rebuilt behind the skip indicating that the steps are now closed off.

Half of it is a raised flower bed

Other half appears to be some sort of seating (so that the smokers can sit down for their fag)

Still looks as though that staircase is out of action though

Must admit, it's a lot easier to get some of these photos now that they have removed some of the internal security fencing.

[DaveH]

Building in the top yard looks that good now it is nearly finished you can hardly see the join.

Top Yard coming along nicely, and again better pictures without the fencing in the way.

[DaveH]

Now, this street, built in the late 1990's cuts right through the site of the old secondary school.

The house beyond the sign is right where Man Chapmans classroom should be.

[Guest wayneybabes]

just found another photo on facebook, totally out of focus but you know wheres its at

[Guest wayneybabes]

Top Yard coming along nicely, and again better pictures without the fencing in the way.

looking good

the old grass bank at the side of the steps where the path now is, is where i was knocked unconscious by a 'friend' pushing me into it head first