CITY
OF SHEFFIELD EDUCATION COMMITTEE
ROWLINSON
SECONDARY
SCHOOL
OFFICIAL
OPENING
H.R.H.
THE PRINCESS MARGARET
ON
SATURDAY,
18th APRIL, 1953
at
3.30 p.m.
CHAIRMAN
THE LORD MAYOR OF SHEFFIELD
(Alderman Peter Buchanan, JP)
STANLEY MOFFETT
Director of Education
HYMN
"All gifts are Thine; no gift have we,
Lord of all gifts, to offer Thee;
And hence with grateful hearts today,
Thine own before Thy feet we lay.
Thy will was in the builder’s thought
Thy hand unseen amidst us wrought
Through mortal motive, scheme and plan,
Thy wise eternal purpose ran.
Father, deign these walls to bless,
Fill with Thy love their emptiness,
And let their door a gateway be
To lead us from ourselves to Thee."
OPENING CEREMONY
THE LORD MAYOR
(Alderman Peter Buchanan, JP)
will preside
OFFICIAL WELCOME TO H.R.H. THE PRINCESS MARGARET
The Lord Mayor
PRESENTATION OF BOUQUET BY
Susan Rowlinson Varney
(Grand-daughter of the late Alderman E. G. Rowlinson, JP)
STATEMENT BY
The Chairman of the Education Committee
(Alderman S. H. Bingham, JP)
THE LORD MAYOR WILL INVITE HER ROYAL HIGHNESS
TO ADDRESS THE ASSEMBLY AND DECLARE THE SCHOOL OPEN
VOTE OF THANKS
MOVED BY Maureen Wilkinson
SECONDED BY David W. Cobb Pupils of the School
HYMN "Dedication" J. C. Whittier
PRAYER
The Lord Bishop of Sheffield
NATIONAL ANTHEM
At the close of the Ceremony, Guests will
remain in their places until after Her Royal Highness and the principal
Guests have retired. The remainder of the Guests will then leave the Hall
and proceed to the School Dining Halls where tea will be served.
After the departure of Her Royal Highness, the School
will be open for inspection.
CITY OF SHEFFIELD EDUCATION COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN - *Ald.
J. H. Bingham, JP.
Chairman of the Secondary Education Sub-Committee - *Coun. I. Lewis, JP.
MEMBERS
Ald. A. Ballard (Deputy-Chairman of Education Committee)
Ald. E. G. Bearcroft
Coun. G. Bennett
Mrs. B. Buchanan, JP
Mr. C. S. Darvill
Right Rev. Monsignor J. Dinn, D.D.
Rev. F. Duckworth, MA.
Mr A W Fishburn
Mr. F. K. Gardiner, JP.
Ald. E. S. Graham, LLD., JP
* Coun. Rev. A. Green
Mr. J. G. L. Hill, JP
* Coun. J. W. Holland, JP
* Ald. Sir Harold Jackson, LL.B.
Coun. A. H. Jennings, MA.
* Rev. A. Jowett, BA.
* Coun. P. C. J. T. Kirkman
* Coun. A. S. Longmore
* Ald. S. H. Marshall, JP
Coun. S. T. Oakes
* Mr. J. O’Dowd, JP
Coun. W. J. Pallett
* Coun. M. J. Sewell, JP
(Deputy-Chairman of Secondary Education Sub-Committee)
Coun. A. Siddall
Ald. H. Slack
Ald. A. Smith
Mr. T. Drury Smith, MC., J.P.
* Mrs. C. Sumner, B.SC., J.P.
Coun. J. Thorpe
* Coun. F. Tindail
Ald. P. J. M. Turner, JP.
Coun. Miss M. Veitch
Dr. J. M. Whittaker, MA., F.R.S.
Coun. J. F. Williams
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Stanley Moffett, MC., M.A.
* Member of Secondary Education Sub-Committee
GOVERNORS OF THE SCHOOL
CHAIRMAN
Coun. I. Lewis, JP
DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN
Coun. M. J. Sewell, JP
Ald. J. H.
Bingham, JP
Mrs. B. Buchanan, JP
Rev. F. Duckworth, MA.
Mrs. M. Gethin
Mrs. L. C. Hudson
Mrs. T. Eldon Lee
Mr. T. Drury Smith, MC., JP
Mrs. C. Sumner, B.Sc., JP
Coun. J. Thorpe
Ald. P. J. M. Turner, JP
Coun. J. S. Worrall
ROWLINSON
SECONDARY SCHOOL
There can be no adequate technical education which is not liberal, and no
liberal education which is not technical: that is, no education which does not
impart both technique and intellectual vision
It is perhaps especially fitting that this new school should commemorate the late Alderman E. G. Rowlinson, J.P., a former Lord Mayor of Sheffield and Chairman of the Sheffield Education Committee from 1926 to 1932 and again from 1933 to his death in January, 1941. Not only was a major part of Alderman Rowlinson’s public life devoted to the education service of this great industrial city, but as a member of the Consultative Committee on Secondary Education he brought the special experience and traditions of Sheffield to the service of the national body which in the "Spens Report" issued in 1938, pointed the way to the establishment of new types of secondary technical schools.
It was, then, especially through Alderman Rowlinson’s work that Sheffield took its proper part in the evolution of a type of secondary school in which the traditional concept of a liberal education and the more recent idea of an education based on technical developments would be brought together. The secondary technical school or "Technical High School ", as the Spens Report preferred to call it is no mere old-fashioned trade school, no mere "defective form of training unfortunately made necessary by cramped conditions of life" but a school in which a particularly intimate union of theory and practice seeks to awake the creative impulse in its pupils, and from which they can go out equipped to lead full and satisfying lives in a world where proficiency in technology needs more and more to be balanced by a broad humanity.
The Rowlinson Secondary School is the first school in Sheffield planned and built under the Education Committee’s Development Plan for Primary and Secondary Education, especially to provide for such a development indeed, it may be claimed to be one of the first in the country established for the new forms of secondary technical education made possible by the Education Act of 1944. It will be, therefore, of necessity a pioneer school, a place where by wisely controlled experiment the courses of study can be adjusted to meet the needs and interests of each individual pupil. Its accommodation, details of which are set out on another page, will allow a flexibility which is not possible at present in many schools housed necessarily in older buildings.
Pupils will enter this school at 11+ after careful selection in the course of which all possible regard will have been paid to the wishes of parents. For the first two years the school will provide a course which, despite possible differences in method of approach arising out of the different environment, will be broadly similar to that of other secondary schools. This will provide a basis for the more specialised studies later and will also allow for transfer between secondary schools of various types at 13+ wherever the educational development and the interests of any particular pupil make this desirable.
After 13 the courses will become increasingly and more markedly differentiated. Initially it is proposed that there should be three main types of course in each of which, whilst the requirements of a sound general education are met, the studies and the approach to them will be progressively coloured" by some particular link with the adult world. The boys’ technical course will find its centre of. interest in engineering in the broadest sense, the girls’ housecraft course will find its special inspiration in the widest application of the domestic arts and sciences, the commercial course will draw, not on the mere mechanical operations to be found in an office, but on the application of liberal studies to the wider field of commerce. A fourth main course will continue to meet the needs of those pupils whose aptitudes suggest development on more academic lines.
This latter course will have to cater initially for those pupils already well advanced in a similar course at the former Carfield Secondary School, and it is appropriate here to pay a special tribute to the work which that school has done in Sheffield. New buildings with increased opportunities and wider horizons are now being provided at the Rowlinson Secondary School where the future can be securely built upon the sound traditions of the former "Intermediate" School at Carfield. Indeed, the opening of this school is not so much an occasion to regret the passing of the older institution as to rejoice in its fulfilment.
THE SITE AND BUILDINGS
THE SITE
The School with its adjoining Play Courts and Playing Fields occupies a site
of approximately 21 acres, situated on the old Sheffield Aerodrome lands, at
the junction of Norton Lane and Dyche Lane.
The Buildings are placed on the northern side of the Site, set well hack from the present road boundaries, to allow for road widening in Norton Lane under the Town Planning proposals of the City. The Play Courts and Playing Fields arc to the South and fall away from the school with a gentle slope.
The main gateway is placed on what will be the future corner of Norton Lane and Dyche Lane.
THE PLAN
The School contains the following accommodation
20 Form rooms
2 General purpose rooms
2 Art and Craft rooms
Library
Assembly Hall
Gymnasium, changing room, showers, etc.
Kitchen Dining room for 700 pupils in two sittings
Medical rooms
Head Teacher’s room and office
Deputy Head Teacher’s room
2 Staff Common rooms
Prefects’ room
Practical rooms
General Science
Laboratory
Physics Laboratory
Engineering Science Laboratory
2 Drawing offices
Woodwork shop
Metalwork shop
2 Engineering Machine shops
Large Preparation room between the General Science room and Physics Laboratory
Small Preparation room
Typing room
To provide appropriate accommodation for the girls during the period when the School is organised as a Mixed School, the following modifications have been made
(a) One girls’
rest room is provided near the medical rooms.
(b) The Deputy Head Teacher’s room will he used as Senior Mistress’s
room.
(c) One Drawing Office is equipped as a Needlework room.
(d) One Engineering Shop is equipped as a Domestic Science room.
This room will revert to a Machine Shop when the girls are transferred to
another school.
One additional Domestic Science room is provided until the School is used as a boys’ school, when this room will be converted into an additional Science Laboratory.
Including corridors and stores this accommodation occupies an area of 75,756 sq. ft.
The plan is arranged in a series of "wings" basically as follows
The Administration Wing, General Teaching Wing and Dining Room/Kitchen Wing fronting to Norton Lane, the latter also being the northern side of a quadrangle formed by the Science, Arts and Crafts, and Technical Wings, with the Gymnasium block further to the South.
The Main Entrance is placed centrally in the Administrative Wing, which is planned on two storeys, and contains complete suites for the Headmaster and Deputy Head, together with the general Staff and Office accommodation.
The Main Entrance opens on to the Main Foyer from which lead the Assembly Hall and Main access corridor.
The Assembly Hall is fan shaped in plan. This shape together with the special wall finishings incorporated give near perfect acoustic conditions.
The Hall seats 700 persons, approximately 200 of these being accommodated in a balcony cantilevered out from the back wall. Indirect lighting is installed, being housed in ceiling troughs and louvres.
The Stage has a "choral" apron and is fully equipped in all respects for the production and practice of Dramatic and Choral works.
The main corridor passes through the General Teaching Wing, this block planned on three storeys and containing the majority of the "general form rooms". At its eastern end, the main corridor divides, continuing eastwards through the Dining and Kitchen Wing, or northern side of the Quadrangle, and southwards through the western side of the Quadrangle, this again being a three storey block housing the General Science Laboratories, Drawing Offices, Typing and Needlework rooms. This room being equipped with a changing recess and platform for the modelling of gowns, etc.
To the South of the Quadrangle is placed the General Arts and Crafts, and General Purposes Wing, and to the East the Technical Wing. Here are the Woodwork, Metalwork and Engineering Machine Shops, equipped with all the latest machinery, etc., associated with these subjects
As indicated in the accommodation schedule, one workshop has been temporarily equipped as a Domestic Science room, a portion being constructed with shoulder high walls to form a replica of a typical three room flat, viz., Living Room, Bedroom and Kitchen.
Cloakrooms and Sanitary accommodation is distributed throughout the building and is situated adjacent to Secondary entrances and main circulating Staircases. The entrance in the East Wing also gives direct access to the Gymnasium which is planned with its own Cloak, Changing, Shower and Sanitary offices, and is structually designed to allow the future erection of a second Gymnasium Wing above it.
CONSTRUCTION
The School is Steel framed throughout, based on two planning grids of 8ft 3ins
and 10ft. 0in. centres, the infilling panels being of brickwork faced with the
Nottingham Patent Brick Co’s "HANTEC" Facing Bricks. The floors are of hollow
block construction and insulated against the transference of sound from floor
to floor. The roots are of the same construction, with a thermal insulating
screed of Vermiculite and waterproofed with natural asphalt. Certain external
walls and terraces are constructed of stone, forming decorative features in
the elevational treatment.
INTERNAL FINISHINGS
The floor finishings to the General and Special Teaching Rooms, and the Assembly
Hall are in West African "Sapele" wood blocks. The Dining Room, Staff Rooms,
etc., are in Acotile resinous tiles, and the corridors in red Decoraphalte.
The Main Entrance Foyer is laid in Richards’s Mosaic Tiles.
All walls and ceilings generally are plastered except the cloaks and lavatories, the walls to which are finished in painted fair faced brickwork.
ENGINEERING SERVICES
Heating
The building is heated by an accelerated low pressure hot water system through
pipes and radiators, with automatically stoked boilers. A separate boiler is
also installed for the provision of hot water throughout the building.
Ventilation
The ventilation of the School is "natural" through windows, door openings, etc.,
with the exception of the Assembly Hall. Here, artificial ventilation has been
installed, delivering a constant flow of warmed air into the auditorium, and
extracting foul air through ceiling grilles.
Lighting
Lighting is by Tungsten" lamps, except in Special Rooms, e.g. Drawing Offices,
etc., and the Assembly Hall where fluorescent lighting is used.
Electric Power
Electric Power is distributed throughout the building especially to the Technical
Wing where all the machines are electrically driven. To ensure full and constant
Electric supply a special distribution sub-station has been built within the
School precincts.
Gas Services
Gas Services are available in all laboratories and workshops and in the main
Kitchen, the latter being equipped with the latest gas operated Kitchen Equipment.
Drainage
Due to the fall of the site and the undeveloped areas to the South of the School,
gravity drainage into the Corporation Sewers in Norton Lane was not possible.
A special Sewage Pumping Station is therefore provided to overcome this difficulty.
ARCHITECT
The whole of the buildings were originally designed and largely erected under
the supervision of the former City Architect Mr. W.G. Davies, F.R.I.B.A., assisted
by Mr. W. L. Clunie, F.R.I.B.A., Deputy City Architect, Mr. C. W. L. Windle,
DIP. ARCH., A.R.I.B.A., Chief Architect (Education), Mr. J. Kot, M. ARCH., Senior
Assistant Architect, and Mr. H. Laycock, Clerk of Works.
Plans
CONSULTANTS AND MAIN SUB-CONTRACTOR
CONSULTANTS
Heating,
Domestic Hot Water and Ventilation Installations
Messrs. Ernest Griffiths & Sons,
E.Edwin Criffiths, M.I.MECH.E., M.I.V.E.),
Bromborough,
Cheshire.
Electrical
Installation
The Yorkshire Electricity Board,
No.3 Sub-Area,
Commercial Street,
Sheffield, 1
Sewage
Disposal
The Sheffield Corporation Sewage Disposal Works.
QUANTITY SURVEYORS
Thomas Barrett, Sons & Partners,
50, Pall Mall,
St. James’s,
London, S.W.1
MAIN BUILDING
CONTRACTORS
F. Einnegan & Co., Ltd.,
847, Ecclesall Road,
Sheffield, 11
The General Eoreman, Mr. W. Lyons.
SUB-CONTRACTORS CONNECTED WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SCHOOL
Structural
Steelwork. Messrs. Redpath Brown & Co., Ltd., Glasgow.
Hollow Block Concrete Floors and Roofs. Messrs. Frazzi, Ltd., Sheffield.
Heating and Ventilating. Alfred Grindrod & Co., Ltd., Sheffield.
Electrical Installation. Yorkshire Electricity Board, Sheffield.
Gas Installation. East Midlands Gas Board, Sheffield.
Asphalt Eloors and Roof. The General Asphalte Co., Ltd., Manchester.
Artificial Stone & Precast Concrete Work Wm. Prestwich & Sons, Ltd.,
Dronfield, near Sheffield.
Wood Block Floors. Hollis Bros., Ltd., Hull.
Cloakroom Equipment. James Gibbons, Ltd., Wolverhampton.
Hose Reels, etc. A.W.V.Turner & Co., Ltd., Sheffield.
Radiator Grilles and Aluminium Lighting Louvres Mellowes & Co., Ltd.,
Sheffield.
Sewage Pumping Equipment. Wallsvin (Pumps), Ltd., Warwick.
Stage Equipment. G. B. Kalee, Ltd., London, W1
aint, Distempers & Decorative Materials British Paints, Ltd., supplied
through the Associated Co. of Charles Credland, Ltd., Sheffield.
Terrazzo Floors and Partitions. Hodkin & Jones, Ltd., Sheffield.
Acotile flooring. Letco Floors and Tiles, Ltd., Sheffield.
Richards’s Mosaic Tile Flooring. Wm. Monks (Builders), Ltd., Sheffield.
Flush Doors. Leader Flush, Ltd., Trowell, Nottingham.
Metal Lathing for Suspended Ceilings and Decorative Plaster Works. W. H.
Cult (London), Ltd., Surbiton, Surrey.
Iron Balustrades, Handrails, Gates and Boundary Fencing. Wilks Bros., Ltd.,
Sheffield.
Ironmongery. Neville Watts & Co., Ltd., Sheffield.
Sanitauy Fittings. W. Emery & Co., Ltd., Sheffield.
Metal Windows, Doors, Lanterns and Domes. Williams & Williams, Ltd.,
Chester.
Metal Door Frames. Joseph Sankey & Sons, Ltd., Shropshire.
Plumbing Works. G W. Dawes & Son, Sheffield.
FURNITURE,
EQUIPMENT AND MACHINERY
School Furniture. Hartley Marsland, Ltd., Sheffield.
J. Brody, Ltd., Sheffield.
H. Bloomfield & Son, Ltd., Sheffield.
Wake & Dean, Ltd., Yatton, near Bristol.
Wilkinsons (Bradford), Ltd., Bradford.
Vantage Business Equipments (GB.), Ltd., Cardiff.
Woodberry Bros & Haines, Ltd., Highbridgc, Somerset.
R. W. Bamforth & Co., Ltd., Sowerby Bridge, Yorks.
North of England School Furnishing Co., Ltd., Darlington.
Modern Equipment Co., Ltd., Leeds
Lathes and Machine Tools. Needham Engineering Co., Ltd., Sheffield
Lathes. Faircut Tool Co., Sheffield
Machine Tools Kerry’s (GB.), Ltd., Sheffield.
G. P. Preston, Ltd., Sheffield.
Gregory & Taylor, Ltd., Sheffield.
Grant & Bradbury, Sheffield.
T. Senior, Liversedge, Yorks.
Yorkshire Factoring Co., Ltd., Doncaster.
W. Firth & Co., Leeds.
Gymnastic Equipment. H. Hunt & Sons, Ltd., Liverpool.
Physical Education Equipment. L. Darlow, Ltd., Sheffield.
Gymnasium Lockers. M. Swain, Ltd., Manchester.
Curtains and Furniture. T. B. & W. Cockayne, Ltd Sheffield.
J. Walsh, Ltd., Sheffield
Grand Piano. Wilson Peck, Ltd., Sheffield.
Sewing Machines. Singer Sewing Machine Co., Ltd., Sheffield.
Electric Ovens. Yorkshire Electricity Board, Sheffield.
Gas Ovens. East Midlands Gas Board, Sheffield.
Mirrors. Ellis Pearson & Co., Ltd., Sheffield.