From pupil to teacher at successful school
This term has marked a time of change for staff and students at one of the most high achieving schools in Northampton.
This month saw Sarah Dixon's arrival at Northampton High School, as she became the ninth headteacher to lead the establishment in its 129-year history.
Born in an age of sexism and inequality for women, the school's past students and staff helped carve a name for the establishment, setting a standard for opportunity and education for young women.
And memories remain strong among past pupils and teachers about the school's passage through a time of social change.
Opened in 1878, under the now outdated name Northampton Middle Class Girls' School, the first headmistress was Mary Pearson. Fees cost one guinea a term for children under 12 and 28 shillings for older girls.
Although the school's Hardingstone site today boasts sprawling grounds, the original location in Abington Street simply had an asphalt yard.
But there were many changes on the way for the school.
In 1914, the old site was handed over to the YMCA and the school moved to Castilian House.
As the years went by, the school occupied various Northampton town centre sites, including the old vicarage at All Saints' Church in Northampton town centre, followed by Eagle House, Towerfield, Spring Hill and Cliftonville.
During its time, the school was even housed inside the historic and now carefully restored Rennie Mackintosh house at 78 Derngate.
And many of the buildings used had important historical links.
One writer, who contributed to the book 44 Derngate: The Inside Story complied by students ahead of the school's last move to Hardingstone in 1992, said: "Number 60, in fact, was the former residence of a well-known artist of the times, Mr Osborne Robinson. He had the rather unusual idea of keeping a board on the back of his front door for visitors to sign as they went out – names on the board included such famous people as Errol Flynn and Douglas
Fairbanks Senior.
"This board was left when the house came into the hands of the high school, but unfortunately an over-zealous cleaning lady thought the signatures were a spot of graffiti and rubbed half of them off."
Today the old photos and recorded memories of school events are held in an archive room at the school's library.
Wanda Davies admitted the school and her own family had been her life.
She joined the school as a nine-year-old in 1937, later taking up a post as teacher, which she held until 1987. Her brother, Stuart Matthews, had been among the boys to study in the early days of the school.
During her time as a pupil, space was shared with pupils from Brondesbury and Kilburn School, who had been evacuated to Northamptonshire during World War Two.
She said she had fond memories of headteacher Ruth Marsden and her deputy, Mary Gee.
Mrs Davies said: "Miss Marsden was the most extraordinary woman and, when Brondesbury and Kilburn came to the school, she and Mrs Gee became great friends. They were fantastic teachers, instead of just sitting you down and saying, 'learn this and that'.
"I remember my Spanish lessons with Mrs Gee. I remember going home and saying, 'She is mad'. She was an extraordinary-looking woman with a shock of white hair, like a Spanish galleon.
"She spoke only in Spanish, but, of course, by the end of it we knew exactly what she was talking about."
Starting work as a Spanish, drama, history of art and English teacher, Mrs Davies said continuing her life at the school as a teacher was initially a strange experience.
She said: "It was a bit difficult, as they had known me as Wanda, so it was a bit hard to say Miss Matthews. That gradually wore off as years went by."
The years also saw changes in uniform style. Before the war, said Mrs Davies, girls wore dresses of cream tussore silk.
"These had to be clean every day, so it was awful if you got ink on them. Then, in the war, we couldn't get that and the uniform changed. We had the most ghastly plain green dresses."
An air raid bunker was also built into the garden of one of the Derngate properties.
Mrs Davies said: "We had quite a few air raids and we would sit together, singing songs in the dark bunker."
When Mrs Davies heard about a retirement home opening in Albion Place – a former school site – she was keen to be among the first to move there.
She said: "I feel terribly lucky to be there. All the great old trees we played underneath are still there."
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Weather for Northampton
Friday 25 May 2012
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