Parkside Middle School was a school in

Cramlington Cramlington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, 6 miles (9 kilometres) north of Newcastle upon Tyne, and 10 miles (16 kilometres) north of its city centre. The name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or Anglo-Saxons. T ...

, United Kingdom from its foundation in 1909 until 2008, when it closed as

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

functions in the town were transferred to

Cramlington Learning Village Cramlington Learning Village, formerly Cramlington Community High School, is a large high school with academy status in Cramlington, Northumberland, England; it is a comprehensive school of around 2100 students. The school became an 11–18 s ...

History

Construction

The original building was constructed in 1909Cramlington's Green Heritage
Cramilington History Society. Retrieved 2010 for the sum of £10,000, which was considered a significant price at the time. The former stone school, which had been used since 1853, became a parish hall. It was officially opened on 13 September 1909 by

Sir Francis Blake, 1st Baronet, of Tillmouth Park Sir Francis Douglas Blake, 1st Baronet, CB, DL (27 February 1856 – 5 February 1940) was Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland, Vice Lord Lieutenant in 1920 and 1931, a Justice of the Peace, and a Member of Parliament. The son of Francis Blak ...

, who was then the Deputy Lieutenant of

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

. According to the Wansbeck Telegraph, "Several hundred people assembled at Cramlington village to witness the opening...there was a rendering of Ye Mariners of England by the children... and a photographic view of the group astaken." It was certified as a

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually ...

school, and thus children who did not make the grading requirement on the

11-Plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools ...

went there.

First World War

On 17 November 1914, the school was occupied by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

for use during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and thus a half-timetable was put in place. No lights were allowed in the school due to the threat of

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

raids, one of which occurred on 2 April 1916 over Cramlington.

Between the Wars

During the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

epidemic in 1918, teaching staff were reduced to one member of staff and average attendance to 55% due to the outbreak. One pupil died in early 1919 from the disease. The first few years did not go well, with a focus on inspections which recorded an outbreak of

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...

in November 1915. The following month, the temperature was recorded at inside the school. The Prince of Wales, the future King

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

visited the school in 1921. During the

1926 general strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governm ...

, it was noted by an inspector that many children had inadequate footwear due to the poverty caused by their parents suffering ten days away from work. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the teaching staff was reduced to only two male teachers due to

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

. In the first week of September 1939, part of the school was taken over as a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

and air raid shelters were built on the school fields.

After World War Two

Following the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 (7 and 8 Geo 6 c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the "Butler Act" after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Historians ...

, the school reopened fully on 9 April 1945 as Cramlington Modern School. In 1977, it was considered significant to record in the logs that the school was renting a video recorder for the first time.

Closure

The school was closed on 21 July 2008 and its pupils transferred to

, ending a 99-year history of education at the same site. The schools records were forwarded to the National Archives for safe keeping.Northumberland Collections Service: 2008 Accessions – Parkside Middle School
Records. Retrieved April 2010

Buildings and site

The school was located on a site to the north of the Village Road, behind the Blagdon Arms and Primitive Methodist Chapel. In addition to the original two-floor building, the Main Hall, gymnasium, and a number of other classrooms were later added to the west and south of the main block, enclosing a paved area known as the quadrangle. Covered walkways between the newer buildings and the original block were later enclosed with outer walls to protect the children from the weather. In the early 1990s, a Year 5 block was constructed to the far west of the site, replacing huts that had stood on the playing fields for the previous few decades. Playing fields and a tennis court with wire net fence around the perimeter occupied the land between the school buildings and the B1326 Northumbrian Road. The school's main playing field was located to the east of the main site, across the cycle track. Air raid shelters once occupied the side of the field nearest the cycle track. The caretaker's house stood immediately to the north of the Blagdon Arms pub. The buildings were demolished during the Summer of 2014, in preparation for the redevelopment of the site into a housing estate of 34 homes by builder

Taylor Wimpey Taylor Wimpey plc (formerly Taylor Woodrow plc) is one of the largest home construction companies in the United Kingdom. The company was created from the merger of rivals Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey on 3 July 2007. It is listed on the Lond ...

between 2014 and 2016. Two streets are to be built on the site: School Close and Blake Drive, the latter named for Sir Francis Blake.

Headteachers

* Thomas Wormwell, 1 September 1909 – 6 January 1913 * George Davison, 6 January 1913 – 18 September 1937, died in office * Isaac Baty, 25 April 1938 – 24 March 1961 * William Gowrie, 2 September 1964 – 31 March 1982 * John Elliott, 26 April 1982 – 20 December 1995 * Ronald Stewart, 1 April 1996 – 21 July 2008

References

* Stewart, Ronald, ''Parkside Middle School Cramlington: A brief history of the school according to the log books 1909–2008''. 2008.

External links

OFSTED record 2007
{{Schools in Northumberland Educational institutions established in 1909 Educational institutions disestablished in 2008 Defunct schools in Northumberland 1909 establishments in England 2008 disestablishments in England Cramlington