Wakeley Road Primary School
Well-known TV and radio broadcaster Professor E N Andrade opened Wakeley Road Primary School on Tuesday May 11th 1954. The School also opened on the same day as Featherby Junior and Twydall and Featherby Infant’s Schools, all constructed about the same time as part of a plan in Gillingham to meet the growing demand for more schools in the area.
Wakeley Road Primary School became the first of the new schools to be opened in front of parents and a party of 140 people from the education sector. Rainham vicar Reverend F Jordan who also served as vice-chairman of Gillingham Education Committee conducted a dedication service. After this the audience watched a film made about Medway schools in which about 10,000 Medway schoolchildren participated. Richmond Road Secondary School teacher Mr P Northcott acted as cameraman for the film designed to show the ideas underlying the educational practices of schools in the area.
Terry Arnold attended the school during the late 1950s and early 1960s and remembers that there were about 240 pupils, eight classrooms, a hall, a canteen and a playing field. He also recalls his four teachers Mrs Gott, Mr Hopkins, Mr Martin and Mr Chudley, a New Zealander. Of these he says that the boys all liked Mrs Gott because she was very attractive and Mr Chudley became the first teacher who asked the pupils to call everyone by their first names.
Terry remembers Mr Martin starting a gardening class when pupils had to dig up part of the school field which he found gruelling work. He also remembers that when taking basket weaving classes with Mr Hopkins some boys enjoyed breaking bits of material off their baskets, soaking these in the sink then setting the ends alight and smoking them like cigarettes.
Terry recalls Sports Day that took place annually on the school playing field each summer and usually included a relay competition against pupils from St Margaret’s School in Station Road. He also remembers the annual school nativity play in which he once participated as ‘The Black King.’
Terry says that the boys liked football and played during the playtime breaks. They also played some matches against other schools. The school had a good reputation for PE and Terry recalls a film being made about the pupils performing exercise routines in the school hall.
Former pupil Lorna Cook who attended the school during the early 1960s experienced happy times there. She remembers that there were eight classes in years 1-4 with two classes for each age group and classrooms on two levels. She thinks that the headmaster’s name was Mr Dawes and there were about eight teachers including Mr Chudley who became her teacher. She remembers the hall that doubled as a gym with gymnastic equipment stored under the stage and that numerous good gymnasts were produced at the school.
Lorna recalls a playing field and a playground where football and rounders were played and a free standing wall that older pupils climbed in playtime periods. Meanwhile, younger pupils skipped with skipping ropes or juggled tennis balls. Lorna felt proud when she became old enough to climb the wall while younger pupils watched in awe.
Pupils did not wear school uniforms but black indoor plimsolls were compulsory to protect the flooring. Fourth year pupils who took turns as plimsoll monitors policed the area.
Lorna remembers a nurse periodically visiting the school to inspect children’s hair for nits. She also became a member of the Brownies who met there once a week and remembers walking a long way and almost getting locked in the pupil’s toilets not realizing that she had permission to use the teachers’ toilets situated close to the hall where the Brownies met. She recalls the Cycling Proficiency Test that was taken at the school on Saturdays and that before getting permission to ride a bike to school the certificate had to be produced.
Lorna feels that the pupils were generally well behaved and recalls that when in the classroom on a rainy day she and other pupils stopped the rain coming through the windows by lining up wooden rulers along the gaps.
Almost 60 years since it first opened Wakeley Road Primary School finally closed on August 31st 2003 when Mrs Daley served as headmistress. In the years leading up to this the school roll had fallen dramatically and 41% of places were unfilled. Numbers fell to 153 pupils compared to well over 200 in earlier decades. A fall in numbers also occurred at Meredale Infant’s School so the education authority decided to discuss the future of the two schools and put forward six options. The fourth option which entailed the closing down of both Wakeley Road Primary and Meredale Infant’s and combining the children from both schools on the Wakeley Road site with a different name was chosen. The Wakeley Road site was considered to have more flexibility, more space and safer for parents to drop off and collect their children in their cars than on the road outside Meredale which often got congested.
The closure of Wakeley Road Primary School led to opposition from school governors, staff and parents. At the time of closure the school’s results had improved according to the most recent Ofsted inspection. In the National Curriculum Tests pupils had achieved 62% in Maths and 64% in English at level 4 or above. At the same time Meredale Infant’s School had been designated highly successful and the closure shocked the school governors and the staff but at the end of the day economics turned out to be the overriding factor.
After the closure in 2003 Riverside Primary School opened on the same site as the former Wakeley Road Primary School. It has a present day roll of 153 pupils.
Comments
I was good friends with Stephen Coombs as well, we both went to Sea Scouts together - happy days. I think you're right about Zoe Day moving away to Headcorn, she used to sit next to me and I remember missing her a lot, didn't we all have a crush on her? :) O and was Debbie Scudder in our classes too?
I was good friends with Dominic Fox, we made online contact a few years ago now but lost touch, sadly I think he passed away a couple of years ago.
I remember most of those names (Mark, Elaine, Anthony, Nigel, Stephen and Iestyn certainly). I was good friends with Stephen Coombs. I ran into his mother several times in subsequent years. I think she said he'd studied German at university and - possibly - was living there, married to a German woman. I remember Zoe Day as well - I had quite the crush on her Her parents moved away though - to Headcorn I think - so she wasn't around for the final couple of years. That's very sad news about Dominic Fox. I was friends with him at the time, but lost touch.
Ah yes, the haze of time... But your memory is good and it's jogged mine to remember: Steven Coombs, Iestyn Morgan, Martin Payne, Graham Willmott, Zoe Day, Glynis Horton, Jane Tyrer and Sarah Moore - hope those names are right.
I was good friends with Dominic Fox, we made online contact a few years ago now but lost touch, sadly I think he passed away a couple of years ago.
Hi Tim, this does all seem to ring a bell but my memory recall has always been a little hopeless. Here are some names from Mr Parker's class '73 I think - the last year at Wakely School for me, after Mr Brown the year before - Mark Good, Elaine Entwhistle, Dominic Fox (he may be a Civil Engineering lecturer living on the Isle of White now), Lee Radford, Anthony (Baker?) and Nigel (?) two tall lads that were very bright, two twins Ian and Garry Weeks. All of these names are glimpsed through the haze of time so they may not be right.
I remember the Trevor Brooking visit - my Mum & Dad wouldn't let me go, because we had something else on. I'm still gutted about that, 40+ years later! That swimming pool was pretty tiny, but still lots of fun.
Shame, Trevor Brooking's visit was good, memorable also because I'd never seen so many dads at the school! I loved the pool, we even got to swim when it was raining, though can remember being jealous of those who sailed submarines in it at lunchtime "boat club"...
I remember the Trevor Brooking visit - my Mum & Dad wouldn't let me go, because we had something else on. I'm still gutted about that, 40+ years later! I don't recall the trips you mentioned, but I do remember Sean (you lived in Soloman Road - I remember coming round there quite a bit) and you too Tim. That swimming pool was pretty tiny, but still lots of fun.
Remember Trevor Brooking visiting to give a talk? And "The Children of Treasure Valley" musical performance at the Central Hall? Schools Abroad trips to Blankenberge and Aachen?
And he could play the guitar as well - definitely a cool guy, think he was a mums' favourite...
Your name rings a bell to me, I'm Tim, think we were in the same class with S.Newman
I remember the swimming pool well: the sheds we used to change in, sailing boats in it at lunchtimes - and the mangle for drying trunks/costumes :)
Mr Brown was a great guy. I remember he drive a mini and could do back-flips!
This is Graham who lived next to Benhams. I don’t recall you, but jog my memory a bit.
Yes, Wolfe, I think that was it! Thank you. And, yes, it was indeed downstairs, upstairs, downstairs & finally upstairs.
Hi, I'm pretty sure I was in exactly the same classes as you (Kingham/Whittaker/Brown/Parker - downstairs, upstairs, downstairs then upstairs again) and agree with you about Mr Bull and Mr Brown. The house name you were trying to remember was Wolfe if I remember correctly.
I seem to remember a lot about my time at Wakeley, but overall I remember it being a happy school that taught me a lot - I'd go back there tomorrow if I could turn back time...sigh.
Hi Marc .. I'm Julie Hobbs! Great to hear from you. I'm still in contact with Joyce and I understand Peter Millican is a Philosophy Professor at Oxford!!!! Are you in contact with anybody from back then?
Quoting Jools:
Hi Jools, what is your name??? I also remember we had a Mrs. Exley in the second year
Mrs Cross,Mrs Barlow, Mr Bull, and Tuesday night youth club.
Contrary to other comments, I thought the Wakeley headmaster at the time, Mr. Bull, was excellent and, moreover, very popular. He was authoritative, but in a very paternal and kindly way.
My teachers at Meredale were Miss/Mrs Trees, Mrs Chapman (I think - it was certainly something like that, she was superb) and Mrs. Smith. At Wakeley I had Miss Kingham, Mr. Whittaker, Mr. Brown (great guy) and Mr. Parker.
I've been trying to remember the house names at Wakeley. I was in the blue one, but I can't for the life of me recall its name. Darwin was Green, Sydney was yellow and Chatham was red. And I too remember Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang at one of the school summer fetes!
I attended Meredale Infants School then Wakeley from 1972 to 1975.
I only really remember Mrs Jeffries who was amazing and helped me as my parents divorced.
I do remember a field opposite one of the schools that we played in and the boys used to catch Daddy Long leg
I remember Mr Chudley or cuddly cuddly as we used to call him. I remember the young blonde Miss Clegg, who was the dads’ favourite.
Facilities were good and the only problem was the rigid nature of the streaming. You were marked as either grammar of secondary modern material on the day you joined and no matter was progress you made it was never recognised as your fate was already sealed.
My father was on the PTA and I remember the fetes where we had the Daleks and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Joyce Carley, Terry Whitehead, Roland Brown, Mark Sutton .. these were a few of my peers!!
I enjoyed playground Football, Sports Days, being in the school team playing Football. On dry days we were aloud on the field again a real treat as it was only allowed in Summer at break time.
English creative writing was my strong point and along with art I thrived, but give me Maths and I would switch off...
I was also taught by Miss Smith in the second year, Miss Litton in the third year and Mrs Barlow in the fourth year which meant sitting on benches in assembly not on the floor!
I was sad to leave here and look at my Facebook and those friends I made are still my friends now.... good times!
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