Education in Kingston upon Hull explained

Education in Kingston upon Hull is governed by the unitary authority of Kingston upon Hull.

The city has fourteen secondary schools and seventy one primary schools. At secondary level it operates a comprehensive admission policy (as does all of former Humberside). It has two sixth form colleges and one comprehensive with a sixth form. It was one of the first LEAs in England to go comprehensive.

Early years

The City and County Borough of Hull had its first education authority formed in the Education Act 1902.[1] In the mid-1920s it was awarding 175 scholarships to its grammar schools and four university scholarships. In 1925, plans were made to vastly increase the numbers of school places, but the type of schools available would follow the 1926 Hadow Report.

Early colleges

The Art School opened on Anlaby Road in 1905, and the Technical School was formed on Park Street, later to become the Technical College. The College of Education was founded on Cottingham Road in 1916, and was initially mostly female.

Early stages of the university

There was a large need for a college of advanced education to degree standard. A possible plan was to develop the Technical College and move the site elsewhere. The city's education committee refused to stump up any money. In March 1922, Thomas Ferens of Reckitt's, and former Liberal MP, bought an 18acres site on Cottingham Road. In 1925 he gave £250,000 in shares in Reckitt's to form a university college. Reckitt's needed qualified workers. The University College was incorporated on 7 October 1927, and opened on 11 October 1928. It had 16 teachers and 35 full-time students. Throughout the 1930s it averaged about 200 full-time students.

Many schools were damaged during the Hull Blitz.

Post war years

After the war the schools in Hull were administered by the Kingston Upon Hull Education Authority which became the Kingston upon Hull Education Committee in the early 1950s. A rapid programme of school building followed for the next twenty years.

Grammar schools

Direct-grant grammar schools

Independent schools

Secondary modern schools

In 1948 there was a plan for 27 new secondary modern schools, with only two being co-educational, however more were built co-educational.

There were other older senior schools, which later became primary schools.

Technical Schools

There were also technical schools attached to the College of Art and the Nautical School which opened in 1963.

In 1962 the city had 20,000 secondary school pupils at 44 schools. 64% were in secondary modern schools, 10% in grammar schools, and 10% in technical schools.

Comprehensive transformation

In 1969, Hull transformed its schools into ages 13–18 comprehensive schools, most with around 1,500 boys and girls. These types of schools were called Senior High Schools and followed the three-tier model, which the rest of Humberside (except parts of Grimsby) would not.

New comprehensives were:

Renamed schools were:Bransholme High School on Midmere Avenue in Bransholme, which is now the Winifred Holtby Academy.

In April 1974 the schools and colleges were taken over by Humberside Education Committee, based in Beverley. From 1974 to 1988 Humberside ran Hull's schools, with those in East Yorkshire, Grimsby and Scunthorpe. It would have become obvious to the county council that Hull's education was suffering, relative to its other areas, as it had plenty of schools (in East Yorkshire) that were not. Humberside also had two sixth form colleges – the John Leggott College and Franklin College, Grimsby, both south of the Humber, that were producing consistent outstanding results at A-level – the best in Humberside. Meanwhile, Hull's A-level candidates were spread thinly across mostly underperforming schools, leading them to the conclusion that Hull would be better off reforming its schools, which led them to intervene and the county council disposed of all but one of Hull's school-attached sixth forms.

Loss of sixth forms

Access to a large enough sixth form was the reason why comprehensive schools had to be large. Large comprehensive schools have not worked as cohesively than smaller schools. It was impractical to have so many schools with sixth forms in Hull because there simply wasn't the demand for them, so it was more efficient to separate the sixth forms and concentrate them for those interested inpost-16 education. Viability of the sixth forms in a time of falling school rolls was the reason for the abolition of Hull's sixth forms in 1988.

It was a more efficient operation all-round. Other metropolitan LEAs such as Manchester (another poorly performing LEA) did something similar around this time. The two sixth form colleges have since produced good results. The sixth form colleges are the remnants of the type of education offered at the former grammar schools. The situation would not have been the same at the previous 13–18 schools, with the only 11–18 school kept being St Mary's College.

Hull Grammar School became the name of a separate independent school in 1988 when Hull schools lost their sixth forms. The new independent school had problems in 1990, entering administration – from competition from sixth form colleges, but has stayed independent. The former school became William Gee School for Boys in 1988, and the Endeavour High School in 2001, effectively closing the former buildings.

Decline and rebuilding

There has often been a problem with parents seeking school places outside of the LEA, often to the East Riding, near the west of Hull.

Two new academy schools have been built – the Sirius Academy (former Pickering High School Sports College) and the Archbishop Sentamu Academy (former Archbishop Thurstan Church of England Voluntary Controlled School, which was Estcourt High School, a technical school for girls before 1969) on Hopewell Road on the Bilton Grange Estate.

School academic results

Hull has some schools which regularly get above-average results; these are (in descending order) –

These schools were coincidentally former selective schools. Both of Hull's single sex schools get above-average results.

Colleges

Further education

Sixth form

The sixth form colleges formed in 1988, and have undoubtedly saved Hull's sixth formers from needless distractions and hence achieve good results.

Higher education

These combined by Humberside County Council with the Regional College of Art (Hull School of Art), Hull College of Technology, and Hull Nautical College in September 1976 to form the LEA-run Hull College of Higher Education, which became Humberside College of Higher Education in 1983, and whose last incarnation is the University of Lincoln, some forty miles south of Hull, leaving Hull high and dry.

Universities

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Foster . David . Unity out of diversity : the origins and development of the University of Humberside . 1997 . Athlone Press . London . 0-485-11513-1 . 26.

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