The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society Leeds municipal grammar schools 1944-72 Anthony Silson BSc (Hons) MSc PGCE FRGS Leeds municipal grammar schools 1944-72 Anthony Silson BSc Msc FRGS Part I The organisation of education in the borough of Leeds 1944-72 In retrospect, the years between 1944 and 1972 can be interpreted as a prolonged period of transition in educational organisation from very limited secondary school provision, and that chiefly in grammar schools, to universal secondary education provided by comprehensive schools. Between 1918 and 1944, the majority of Leeds’ pupils were educated in all-age (5-14) elementary schools. A few pupils were educated in private schools and some in partly publicly funded municipal grammar schools. The latter had many fee-paying pupils, some of whom had already attended the fee-paying kindergarten of their respective high schools. Some pupils attended municipal grammar schools by dint of gaining a scholarship at eleven; such pupils were non-fee paying. The 1944 Education Act was one of the finest pieces of twentieth century legislation. By this Act, the school leaving age was raised to fifteen, secondary education was to be provided for everyone, fee-paying was abolished in municipal grammar schools, and pupils were to be educated according to their ages, abilities and aptitudes. As early as 1946, Leeds City Council had shown interest in providing comprehensive secondary schools. However, Leeds then had few secondary schools. Consequently, as an interim measure, the council decided to provide secondary education for all by opening additional secondary modern schools to replace elementary schools, and by selecting pupils for its then eight grammar and two technical schools. Whilst all-age elementary schools gradually declined in numbers after 1946, they only ceased to exist in 1965. Grammar school and technical high school pupils were chosen by means of successfully passing an examination at the age of eleven, though a few were also admitted at thirteen. Until 1954, Leeds continued to have just eight municipal grammar schools and two technical high schools. Of the latter, one was for boys and one for girls. One grammar school was coeducational; three were for boys and four for girls (table one). 1 Table one. Classification of municipal grammar and technical high schools in the borough of Leeds in 1954 Grammar Schools Boys only Leeds Modern Roundhay West Leeds Boys' High Girls Only Allerton High Lawnswood High Roundhay High West Leeds Girls' High Coeducational Cockburn High Technical High Schools Boys Only Central High Girls Only Thoresby High Between 1954 and 1966, Temple Moor opened as a boys’ grammar school, Parklands opened as a girls’ grammar-technical school and St. Thomas Aquinas opened as a Catholic boys’ grammar school. Foxwood was the first comprehensive school in Leeds. It opened in 1956 and was followed first by Allerton Grange (which had previously been a secondary modern school) and then by Mathew Murray. From 1954, the council began to offer free places to certain pupils, who had all been successful in the entrance examination, to attend Catholic direct grant schools. In 1958, this provision was extended to other direct grant schools. The direct grant schools consisted of Leeds Grammar School, Leeds Girls’ High School and three Catholic schools: Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College and St. Michael’s College. By 1966, there was thus a very varied secondary education provision in Leeds. The first proposal for a completely comprehensive secondary education in municipal schools was made in 1963 and though this was rejected, (as were other early schemes) Leeds’ municipal secondary schools were reorganized in 1972 to become solely comprehensive. The main principles of the examination used to select pupils for a grammar or technical high school remained until 1972. Pupils were examined in English, arithmetic and intelligence. The whole age group was not tested. In that sense it resembled the scholarship examination that had preceded it. Teachers in elementary schools and junior schools selected a number of pupils whom they thought were likely to be successful in the examination. These pupils then received coaching during the autumn term prior to the examination. Leeds Education Committee decided that only 2 about 20per cent of the age group would be admitted to grammar and technical high schools. Details of the examination were amended in 1954. In the autumn term, pupils now sat two practice intelligence tests before the examination. Whereas prior to1954, the examination to select pupils had taken one complete day at a high school, from 1954 onwards, the examination was held in two parts, at the end of the autumn term and at the beginning of the spring term, and both parts were held in the candidates’ own schools. Both parts consisted of standardized tests of intelligence, English and arithmetic . Provided the tests were an accurate measure of academic ability, the grammar and technical high schools thus had pupils of only the highest ability. A few parents of pupils who had passed the examination for entrance to grammar or technical high schools did not take up the offer of a place. In at least one instance the parents wanted their daughter to remain with her friends. However, it seems likely that in the majority of cases they responded in this way either because they were not interested in education or because they wanted their children in full- time employment at the earliest opportunity. Pupils could leave elementary school and secondary modern school at fifteen, but were expected to attend grammar or technical high school until they were sixteen. Part II The periods studied and the methods used in this article The main purpose of this article is to examine how far the Leeds municipal grammar schools were successful. Two different approaches to this problem are followed. In part four, the author uses his experience of one Leeds municipal grammar school to discuss the extent to which it was successful in the years 1949-56. In part three, all the Leeds municipal grammar and high schools are reviewed for the period 1954-66. The main reason why this period has been selected is because certain data are readily available for these years. Another reason is that by 1954 few former fee-paying pupils remained in municipal grammar schools, so almost all the pupils had been selected by their perceived abilities at the age of eleven. School Certificate (and Higher School Certificate) had been the external means of assessing grammar school pupils from 1917 to 1951. Then it was replaced by the General Certificate of Education (GCE) with two levels: ordinary (O) and advanced (A). By 1954, schools had had time to familiarize themselves with this new examination. At no time were elementary school 3 pupils allowed to sit either the School Certificate or General Certificate of Education examinations. Whilst the number of pupils in secondary modern and comprehensive schools sitting GCE examinations increased between 1954 and 1966, the grammar schools were in this period the main source of GCE candidates. School magazines issued between 1954 and 1966 and The Secondary Grammar School in Young Leeds (1949) make it clear that grammar schools placed great store on out-of-school activities. Or at least grammar school teachers did! In his history of Roundhay School, Gerald Hinchliffe mentions how many boys had regard only to those classroom subjects which they needed for examination success, treated cultural subjects with indifference or resentment, and had no time for out-of-class activities. Hinchliffe’s remarks seem to be true of other grammar schools for Leeds Education Committee’s report of 1954 states: A surprising number of children who are quite satisfactory as pupils, even some of those in the sixth form, have not appreciated that, in order to profit to the full from a grammar school education, an active part should be taken in the corporate life of the school . It would seem then, that grammar school extra-curricula activities were not wholly successful. This opinion is borne out by speech day exhortations, for example, Miss Scott tells Allerton High School girls that: It is essential that every girl should pull her weight in the school . However, there is a problem in using out-of-school activities to assess grammar schools. It is difficult to ascertain the reasons why pupils should have been members of the combined cadet force, in the school choir, the science clubs or whatever (Roundhay School had sixteen societies). As the aim of extra-curricular activities is not known, it is not possible (other than to add a few personal remarks in part IV) to go any further in assessing whether grammar schools were, in this respect, successful. The first headmaster of West Leeds Boys’ High School was Christopher Darling. Throughout the years from 1907 to 1925 when he was head, Darling had concentrated on character training . Nor was he alone in this. Both a prospectus (probably c.1925) and a 1931 history show that Leeds Modern School’s aims were to develop scholarship and character. The history also discussed the merits of public school tradition as applied to Leeds Modern School. Certainly, character development is important. When I was a teacher, I always liked to believe I had promoted good character in my pupils. Yet as a criterion for assessing the success of grammar schools character fails. Even if agreement can be reached on the kind of character development being sought, there appears to be no way of knowing either the role of 4 other agencies or whether the influence has been life-long. It is virtually impossible to establish whether pupils of fifty or so years ago, had their characters changed by a grammar school education.