The New Middle School

May 1929

Mexborough and Swinton Times May 31, 1929

The New Middle School

On Saturday, June 1st, at 3 p.m., the new Middle School which has been provided by the West Riding Education Committee to serve Conisborough and Denaby Main will be formally opened by Aid. Sir Percy Jackson, LL.D., J.P., chairman of the West Riding Education Committee, in the presence of a representative attendance of local educationists, including the Very Rev. Canon Leteux, of St. Alban’s, Denaby Main, who will preside, the Rey. H. Lee, B.A., vicar of Conisboro’; Mr. A. Roberts, C.C., chairman of the Conisboro’ Urban Council; and Mr. P. Troughton, chairman of the Conisboro’ Education Sub-Committee.

The new school, which occupies a site in the neighbourhood of the new village of Conanbv and from which a commanding view of the valley of the Don is to be obtained, will accommodate 400 boys and girls in ten classrooms on the ground floor, in two departments.

There are separate assembly halls for boys and girls, which can be thrown together as the occasion arises, with the necessary cloakrooms, staff rooms, and store rooms for stationery, caretaker’s materials, etc. Special rooms for instruction in science, domestic subjects, handicraft and metalwork, together with the necessary store rooms, are also provided.

The planning arrangements are such that extensions can easily be effected up to a maximum classroom accommodation of 800. All the rooms in the building open directly off wide corridors arranged round a large airy quadrangle, so obtaining the maximum amount of sunshine and fresh air. Ample lighting and ventilation have been the foremost considerations and the general layout of the school is on the latest semi-open air principle found most suitable in this northerly climate.

Each classroom is a self-contained unit, with its own entrance door, lighted and cross ventilated by opening windows of large area, and heated on three sides by hot water pipes and radiators, the temperature being regulated by an independent valve in every room. Built-in cupboards, for books, stationery, etc., of each classroom, and large blackboard surfaces on the walls, have been provided to avoid the awkward dusty cupboards and loose blackboards of the past, thus leaving the whole floor space in front of the class free of obstruction.

The assembly halls are centrally situated for the classrooms and entrances, entirely shut off from the corridor, thus forming excellent rooms for lectures, examinations, special classes, social functions, etc.              These halls are fitted also with cupboards and museum cases for the exhibition of specimens of local interest.The cloakrooms are equipped with the latest hygienic wrought-iron hat and coat hooks. The necessary number of wash basins is provided in separate rooms, so that the cloakrooms can be locked up, leaving the basins accessible at all times.

The whole building is warmed by low pressure hot water, heated from two large sectional boilers in the basement. This principle has been found by long experience to be the safest and most suitable for schools. There is large coke and storage space, so that fuel can be purchased in bulk at the cheapest possible rate. The school will be lighted by electricity, of sufficient power for evening school work

The finishings of the building are hard wearing, dustless, and washable. The inside corridors and cloakrooms have marble terrazzo floors and glazed tiled dados.

There are separate asphalted portions of playground for games and physical exercises in wet weather. Beds of shrubs and grass borders are laid out next to the front road and in the quadrangles. In addition there is a large playing field adjoining, containing about eight acres, for the larger games, such as football, cricket, hockey, etc.

There is an adequate number of conveniences of the most sanitary type in detached blocks, but connected by an open corridor to the main building, lined with white glazed brick to the full height, so that frequent washing down can be easily effected. The drainage is designed and laid in accordance with the most up-to-date principles of sanitation. The main exits to Earnshaw Lane have been made as safe as possible by the erection of barriers in recessed gateways.

About twenty contractors have been employed in various trades and specialities. The main contractors for the school block, however, were as follow: Builder, Messrs. W Johnson and Sons, Wombwell; joiner Messrs. H. Cooper and Son, Conisboro’; tiler, Messrs. Kemp and Co., Swinton; plumber, Mr. S. Rushworth, Shipley; plasterer, Mr. J. Innes, Doncaster ; painter, Mr. S. W. Nicholson, Mexboro’; ironfounder, Mr. S. Raines, Wakefield, asphalter, Mr. M.G. Spencer, Silsden, Keighley.