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.