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Was this the old Prenton Secondary for Boys in Temple Rd?? If so I went there 59-63 and Bill Bailey was the Headmaster then. Went past there a couple of weeks ago and it was as I remember it after 42 years.

Last edited by uptoncx; 24th Jan 2012 9:25pm. Reason: New topic split from Devonshire Park School
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Prenton Secondary School for Boys (Temple Road) was there until the buildings became the newly created 'Middle School'.
(There should really be a new topic so as we can see it from the boys perspective, as most of the Prenton Sec stuff seems to be about the Girls school.)
Anyway, some of the teachers stayed on, so Jack Ramsden must have been one of them. Here he is pictured (front row, dark jacket) following the annual cricket match between the staff and pupils, 17th July 1968. You may recognise some of the others, too.

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Prenton Sec staff cricket team, 17 July 1968
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OT I know - but that is a REALLY small cricket team !!! (and no "12th man" to be sure...!! LOL)

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Prenton Secondary School for Boys
Temple Road, Prenton,
Birkenhead. CH42 9JX

The school was opened as Temple Road Council School on 12th January 1914. The area of land on which it stands is bounded by Temple Road and Prenton Park Road, just behind the shops and houses of the Borough Road and Prenton Road West junction. From 1887 to 1913, this site had been the home of Tranmere Rovers Football Club until the club moved to its current premises on the opposite corner, at Prenton Park.

The style of the school buildings is similar to that used throughout the Borough during that period, being common brick with a red pressed brick base and a slate tiled pitch roof. There are two main buildings, each of two storeys plus a single story building, each of rectangular shape, together with ancillary buildings and a caretakers house. The main buildings have entrance doors and a staircase at each end. There is parquet wood flooring and the walls are part tiled up from the floor in brown tiles with decorative top row.

The main block is on the north side, parallel with Temple Road. (The gates from the pavement still have a plaque with the words ‘GIRLS’ on them.) This block consists of the main assembly hall, library, headmaster and secretary’s office as well as the staff room, store rooms, cloak rooms and toilets. The building is wider in the middle to accommodate the main hall. On both the ground and first floors, and between the staircases, a central corridor provides access to the classrooms on either side.

The other teaching block is on the south side of the land and follows a similar layout, but omits the office and library. It too has a hall, which is slightly smaller than the one in the north building and was used as the woodworking room for a long time. The classrooms upstairs benefitted by being well lit due to their south facing windows and were used for art and technical drawing. There was also a science/physics room, with its long pitch-pine benches (with gas taps fitted in them) and plenty of sinks, and a store room with some very interesting pieces of kit inside it.

The third and smallest building is the single story one which has one side adjoining the pavement of Prenton Park Road. This was the girls cookery school, with its white tiled walls, cookers and kitchen equipment. Today, we would call this the domestic science building. As noted below, this was fitted out as a metalwork workshop when the school became all boys.

The school also used land on Woodchurch Lane. The school kitchens and dining hall were located here. Some space was also allocated to an outdoor games area, which included a sand pit for the long jump and high jump, shot putting etc., and an area was used for pupils to grow vegetables.

In 1914, when the school first opened, pupils entered via the main block on the Temple Road side. There were 45 boys to begin with but from the outset it was intended to have 396 boys. The first Headmaster was Mr. George Pryce BA. He led the school through interesting and difficult first years. The first four years saw the pupils and staff removed to a one room school in the church hall of Prenton Congregational Church, because the school building along with other local schools was taken over as a hospital for 1st World War casualties. Mr. Pryce continued as headmaster until the alteration of the school system, retiring in July 1922.

By August 1922 there was a change in the educational system which brought about six central Birkenhead schools. These were intended to take in all pupils from local Elementary schools at the age of eleven. There were separate Boys' and Girls' departments. Prenton was one of them with 296 boys.
In the post-war reorganisation, these six central schools then became Secondary Modern schools. In 1944, the Butler Education Act had created the Eleven Plus exam, in order to determine which primary school pupils went to Grammar schools, and which went to Secondary Modern Schools. It was flawed for a number of reasons, and later became more of an IQ test. Getting a Grammar school place was as much about school capacity and gender as it was about ability. Therefore, when the teachers said that some pupils were at the school ‘because there weren’t enough Grammar school places’, it had a certain ring of truth about it, and was a far better thing to say than ‘you failed your eleven plus’.

So, the Boys' Department became Prenton Secondary Modern School for Boys and the Girls Department became Prenton Secondary Modern School for Girls. Later, in about 1962, the Girls Department moved to their new school building in Hesketh Avenue. This allowed the boys to use the entire Temple Road site. Most noticeably, the cookery building (parallel with Prenton Park Road) became the Metalwork shop, and was fitted out with machines, lathes and a small furnace.

Sports such as football, rugby and cricket, were played on the sports fields just beyond Tranmere Rovers ground. This could either be the Corporation ground, or the Shaftsbury Boys Club Ground, next to it – depending on booking and usage. The annual school sports day was occasionally held elsewhere, such as Woodchurch. Swimmers used Byrne Avenue baths.

In 1964 the CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) was launched, with Certificates being awarded between 1965 and 1987. This was intended to give Secondary Modern School pupils a recognised exam qualification on leaving. The GCE ‘O’ Level was primarily intended as an exam for High School pupils wanting to go into higher education. Prenton recognised the ability of some of their pupils, and allowed them to take the GCE as well, in certain subjects, if they were suitable. In order to do this, the pupils undertook cross-over training for their new exams in June and July as soon as the March CSE’s were finished.

The boys did officially get to meet the girls occasionally. This could be for either the school play or the school Christmas party. The party took place in the school hall and was for seniors only. Disco, teachers and soft drinks meant the girls stayed one end and the boys the other.

The School colours were maroon and navy in equal amounts, with a gold stripe. Therefore, the markings on a tie, cap or rugby shirt would go - maroon, navy, gold stripe, maroon, navy, gold stripe etc. The school badge was in the shape of a shield, quartered, with the Borough crest in the top left quarter. Alternate quarters were maroon and navy with gold separators. The House colours were – Blue for Bebington, Yellow for Devonshire, Red for Egerton and Green for Grange. House colours were worn as a small ribbon on the blazer breast pocket and on the hem of football and rugby shorts. Prefects, chosen from 4th and 5th year pupils, wore a maroon band on the breast pocket and their blazer sleeve. The head prefect wore two bands on his sleeve, and all prefects wore an enamel badge on their lapel.

In 1970 the school was again reorganised and in 1971, after much refitting, it was opened as a Mixed Infants and Middle School to be known as Devonshire Park Combined School. Mr. H. Bailey S.Sc, who had been Headteacher at Prenton Secondary Modern School, remained as the new Headteacher. Mr. Bailey retired in 1979, to be succeeded by Mr. McQueen.

In 1983 when the school lost its 11 and over age group, the school was given a new name of Devonshire Park Primary School. Numbers had reduced to 372 with the largest classes being again in the 6+ and 7+ age range.

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Last edited by Norton; 24th Jan 2012 3:06pm. Reason: Photo added
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Originally Posted by CVCVCV
OT I know - but that is a REALLY small cricket team !!! (and no "12th man" to be sure...!! LOL)


The teachers could only muster a short team that day, claiming it gave the boys an advantage! One went off before the photo was taken, and one didn't like his picture taken anyway. This was on the Borough Road playing fields, near Tranmere Rovers ground.

By the way, I've started a new topic Prenton Secondary School for Boys, Temple Road. This runs from its beginnings in 1914 through to the creation of Devonshire Park School.

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Interesting topic Norton, my dad went to that school in the 30's,and my 3 kids went there between 1986 and 2004, and my grandson is in year 5.

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Not sure about the official looking history spiel. But in 1959 I don't remember any girls there. And we had metalwork and RK (religious knowledge) and Tech Drawing and maybe woodwork over in Woddchurch Lane at the back of the vegetable gardens. I also seem to remember there had been a fire at St Winifreds ??? and some of the girls where housed at Temple Rd not sure of the year but maybe 1960.
I remember playing football on the Shaftesbury Boys ground and I used to play on the weekends on the playing fields past the Boys ground.

Pity there are no other old pupils from that era on here, but fingers crossed they may turn up.

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I'm just being nosey here mindplayer - but which part of Sydney do you live in?

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Hi Woodley
I live in South Wentworthville and work in the city. Are you an old Temple Rd boy? I found an old boy living at Surfers Paradise, I asked him to contribute here but nothing as yet.

Last edited by mindplayer; 22nd Mar 2012 12:15am.
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Hi Mindplayer.
No not an old boy of anywhere, I'm an old girl of Wirral Grammar.
Told you I was just being nosey. I'm from Mount Pritchard and just wondered which part of Sydney you hailed from.

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I left Prenton Sec in 1955 and the lower half of the main building was still been used for girls as well as the top section of the building nearer to Prenton Road West, also the building along side Prenton Park Road was still been used by the girls for cookery lessons.
The dinner hut { up the wide entry behind the houses in Prenton Park Road was in those days split in half so the boys and girls where kept seperate, the 2 single story concrete section building along side the dinner hut was shared for lessons in that one was for girls and the other for us lads. Inbetween these 2 huts where the sand pits for practicing the long jump ready for sports day.


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My humble apologies woodley, too much familiarity with boys - at school and no girls.
I have aready found three other wirralians in Australia - it is amazing.

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Not a problem Mindplayer. I know there's a Wirralian in Canberra and one in Brisbane - but you're the closest I've come across so far. No lads at my school either.

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Just read these posts, I was a pupil there late fifties early sixties. Remember three of the teachers in the cricket team. Mr Jack Ramsden, and on the back row Messers Wild(with beard)? and Ralph Bond. Played in a couple of those games in which old scores were settled. Many very good memories. Now live in Wolverhampton been here almost 40 years cant find the road out.

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I attended Temple Road between 1945 and 1949. There was no access to the 'dinner hut' but plenty of fraternisation between the boys and girls in spite of them being in separate buildings !

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