PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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When the Board of Education in London decreed that every pupil in the country had to have a superficial area of 10 feet (previously it was only 8), this meant that new accommodation was required in order to make room for all the children receiving education in the Borough of Devonport. Ford School and Johnston Terrace School had more scholars than they could accommodate but the Government inspectors had allowed them to continue for the past two or three years until this new school was built. Thus in 1908 the Devonport Education Authority took the decision to erect a new building at Camel's Head. There were apparently many problems, not least of which was the choice of a site. It was, to put it bluntly, a mud flat. However, it was a mud flat that belonged to the Corporation, which meant it was cheap for the Education Committee to rent at just £82 per year. In order to provide a good, solid foundation, the School was built on a reinforced concrete raft. Messrs Thornely, Rooke and Barron were asked to design the school and Messrs Wakeham Brothers were contracted to build it for £12,070. It was constructed of grey limestone. On the afternoon of Wednesday February 28th 1912 the new Camel's Head Elementary School was declared open by Lord St Levan in the presence of the Mayor and Mayoress, Alderman and Mrs Fredman, and Vice-Admiral R H S Stokes, Admiral Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard. The rest of the guest list read like a "Who's Who" of the great and good of the Borough and included not only those one would expect to be present (Town Clerk, chairman of the Education Committee, the architect, the contractors, and the local inspector of schools) but also some surprising ones like the borough coroner, Mr J A Pearce, the borough librarian, Mr W D Rutter, and a director and the manager of the Devonport & District Tramways Company. Luckily the new head master was also invited. He was Mr S D Brooming, who had for the previous 27 years been the head of St Stephen's School at Devonport. He apparently moved before he was pushed because at his farewell presentation it was remarked that schools such as St Stephen's, a church school, would not exist for very much longer and if he had stayed 'he would have found himself at the end of that time without an occupation'. The heads of the girls' department, Miss Fitzwater from Stuart Road School, and infants' department, Miss Bryan, from Devonport Higher Elementary School, were not included in the guest list. What was apparently an unusual feature of Camel's Head Elementary School was that in co-operation with the Sanitary Committee, a school nurse had been appointed. It also had bathrooms. Some of the pupils who would have attended this School at its opening were children of the workmen employed by the contractor engaged on the building of the North Yard Extension of the Royal Dockyard. They would have attended Sir John Jackson's School until this one was completed. In the 1930s the School provided education for infants, juniors and senior boys. The Headmaster was Mr H Cock and the Headmistress was Miss M Bryan. Girls went to Ford Elementary School. Under the reorganisation of education brought about by the Education Act 1944, as from Sunday April 1st 1945 the School was divided in to Camel's Head Primary School, for juniors and infants, under Miss E M Leigh, and Camel's Head Secondary Modern School, under Mr H G Taylor. The building is still in existence (2007) and is partly used for Weston Mill Primary School. Records relating to Camel's Head School can be found at the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Clare Place, Plymouth, under accession number 2315.
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