Abridged from ‘Southam: The Timeline of a Warwickshire Market Town’, highlighting twenty significant events in the town’s history. Now on sale, price £8.

The need for a secondary school in Southam was acknowledged at least as early as 1936, when Headmaster Mr GW Linley announced to a school assembly that the town would be getting a new school and a bypass. Another generation of Southam children had completed their education before the first of these aims was realised. Until then, once Southam children were old enough to go to secondary school they had to continue their education out of town.

The new building was not ready until 1957, when it opened for 384 pupils. The teaching staff consisted of a Head, Mr Haydn Jenkins, Deputy Head Miss Jean Young, and 15 teachers. The school had an assembly hall, a small hall which doubled as a temporary workshop, domestic science room, science lab, arts and crafts room, 11 classrooms and a kitchen. The initial build cost was £132,000.

Southam Heritage Collection holds Miss Young’s copy of a guidebook to the various schemes of work available to Secondary Modern pupils. This shows in some detail the differences between educational methods in the 1950s and those of the present day. One of the most noticeable differences was that between courses for girls and for boys. Domestic Subjects and Housecraft were all described as ‘for girls’, in contrast to ‘Boys’ Handicrafts; Woodwork and Metalwork’. A girl might learn ‘treatment of frills using goffering tongs’, ‘poultry killing and plucking’, or ‘pregnancy and general pre-natal conditions necessary for healthy mother and child’, but a boy was not expected to need any of this knowledge.

Mr Jenkins retired in 1974. He could hardly have foreseen that one of his last actions as Head would entail being given three hours to close the school, a week before the end of term, because it was structurally unsound. An inspection had revealed that cement with an excessively high alumina content had been used in the construction, and there was a danger that this could give way.

The new Head, Mr H J (Jim) Skinner, and his staff were thus presented with an unique challenge over the ensuing summer holidays: moving everything that was needed to run the school to the former World War Two airfield at Gaydon, now occupied by Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin and the British Motor Museum. This was a huge site; Mr Skinner remarked that it was the only school in the United Kingdom which could land Concorde within its grounds. The buildings were shabby and draughty, cold in winter and hot in summer, and leaked rainwater. 36 improvised classrooms opened out on to a corridor 1.3 metres wide, and which Mr Skinner paced out and found to be 176 strides long.

One piece of equipment that was lost in transit was Mr Jenkins’ cane. Unfortunately for some of the pupils a replacement was obtained from King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford. One of the few advantages of the Gaydon site was that it had a working Tannoy system, which proved useful in communicating over such a large area. The school remained at Gaydon for a whole year, yet continued to function, a tribute to the adaptability of pupils, staff and parents.

 

With grateful acknowledgements to John Taylor, staff member of Southam College and former pupil of Southam School.

 

Southam Heritage Collection is located in the atrium of Tithe Place opposite the Library entrance.  Opening times Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings from 10am to 12 noon. To find out more about Southam’s history, visit our website www.southamheritage.org  telephone 07710 012052 or email  southamheritage@hotmail.com  You can also follow us on Facebook.