Moseley School

Moseley School
A Language College

Established	1923/1955/1974
Type	Foundation school
Headteacher	Mr Craig Jansen
Specialism	Language
Location	College Road Moseley West Midlands B13 9LR England
Local authority	Birmingham
DfE number	330/4245
DfE URN	103519
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1,360
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Colours	Black, red & white
Former names	Moseley Grammar School Moseley Modern School
Website	Moseley School

Coordinates: 52°26′26″N 1°51′51″W / 52.4406°N 1.8642°W / 52.4406; -1.8642

Moseley School: A Language College (incorporating Spring Hill College) is a large comprehensive school in the Moseley area of Birmingham, England. It has a predominantly male, Muslim student population.^[1] 86% of its students are Asian, with substantial numbers from Urdu and Arabic speaking backgrounds, and the school has a formal teaching partnership with the Hamza Mosque and Islamic Centre.^[2] Once dubbed, by the Daily Mirror, the most dilapidated school in the country, the older part of the school, Spring Hill College (built in the 1850s), was fully restored and refurbished in 1998. The school made headlines again in 2009 when a Jewish girl was attacked by 15 or more fellow pupils shouting "Kill all Jews",^[3] and one of its teachers, Jane Turner, was convicted of a race crime for calling a child "white trash".^[4] The school's main entrance is situated on College Road (B4217), near the Stratford Road (A34) junction between Wake Green and Sparkhill. It lies in the parish of St Christopher, Springfield.^[5]

School history

The history of what is now Moseley School is somewhat convoluted, but can be traced back to 1838 when a private house in Spring Hill, Hockley, Birmingham, was opened as a training college for Congregationalist ministers – under the patronage of George Storer Mansfield (1764-1837) and his two sisters Sarah (1767-1853) and Elizabeth (1772-1847). Twenty years later, in 1857, after expansion to include a further three private houses, the establishment, still named Spring Hill College, moved to new, much larger, purpose-built premises on Wake Green Road in what was then rural Worcestershire, some miles south of the city. This striking Gothic revival building was designed by the architect Joseph James, and is particularly noted for its gargoyles.

In 1886, the college was closed and a replacement establishment founded in Oxford, known as Mansfield College (which is now part of the University of Oxford). Meanwhile, the Wake Green Road buildings were re-opened as the 'Pine Dell Hydropathic Establishment and Moseley Botanical Gardens', which entailed the construction of a swimming bath (with highly decorative ceiling) and greenhouses. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the building was commandeered by the government for use as a military barracks. After a brief period as an orphanage, the building returned to academic use in 1921 as a teacher-training facility (under the name Springfield College).

Finally, in 1923, the premises were handed over to Birmingham City Council which opened them as Moseley Secondary School, with Major Ernest Robinson serving as headmaster until 1956. The study bedrooms of Spring Hill College were merged in pairs to form classrooms, and the former hydropathic swimming bath was boarded over to serve as the assembly hall. An extension was built to house laboratories and further classrooms. A unique feature of the school was that the headmaster would live on the premises, which remained the case until 1972. Boys-only with a selective entrance exam, the school changed its name to Moseley Grammar School in 1939. In 1955, the city council opened a separate school, known as Moseley Mixed Secondary Modern School, fronting College Road, on what had previously been a playing field adjacent to the grammar school site. This new school, with Miss Eileen Cohen (later Mrs Eileen North) as headmistress until 1967, was both co-educational and non-selective, and was to specialise in performing arts such as theatre and music. Only a fence separated the two schools, and relations between the two sets of pupils were not always peaceful. It was during this period, under the headmastership of Bruce Gaskin from 1956 to 1972, that Moseley Grammar acquired its reputation for academic excellence, having previously been known more for its sporting achievements, particularly in rugby. In 1968 it acquired a former inn near Abergavenny, Wales known as the Old Grouse Cottage, for outdoor activities and field trips, which the current school still retains. The grammar school became a Grade II listed building in the year of Mr Gaskin's retirement.

Eventually, in 1974, after two years of uncertainty over the issue, Moseley Grammar and Moseley Modern were suddenly merged, with only a few weeks' formal notice, in a shotgun wedding that was resented by some, but warmly embraced by others (among the latter, Mr Gaskin, who after his retirement remained active on the school's Board of Governors until the 1980s). The combined establishment, known simply as Moseley School, became one of the largest comprehensives in Birmingham, and initially at least, inherited the good reputations of its predecessors in their respective fields. Donald Wilford, headmaster of Moseley Modern since 1967, was keen on being appointed head of the combined school (Moseley Grammar had been without a headmaster since 1972), but in the event the job went to an outsider, Alan Goodfellow, who was on record as being bitterly critical of comprehensive education. He was also plagued by ill-health, finally dying, still in office, in 1981. Another period of uncertainty ensued, seemingly ended by the appointment of David Swinfen as head the following year. His ambitious plans, however, were overwhelmed by events, when the former grammar school building, known since the amalgamation as the West Wing, began falling apart as a result of decades of neglect and under-funding. In 1986 the roof of the library was declared unsafe halfway through an exam, and the entire building was closed and earmarked for demolition – the latter prevented only by Mr Swinfen's speedily organised campaign and the resultant public outcry. By the end of his tenure in 1992 the school had also undergone a radical change of character, following the redrawing of its catchment area in 1987/88. Hitherto, Moseley School had taken a majority of its pupils from the (then) largely white area of Hall Green, but now it would take them from the mainly Asian area of Sparkhill.

The campaign for the restoration of the West Wing would drag on for many years. As part of it, in 1995 Mrs Mary Miles, head teacher from 1992 to 2001, authorised the formation of the Moseleians Association, for former students and staff of the grammar school, secondary modern school, and comprehensive school. It publishes the twice-yearly Moseleian Gazette, and organises regular reunions and many other events. Continuing the work of the Old Moseleians Association – founded by Major Robinson in 1927, but with which the school had severed links in 1968 – the Moseleians Association has assumed an increasingly important role in school life, sponsoring competitions and prizes for pupils, raising funds for the school cottage, planting trees on the school grounds, and taking over the administration of the school archives.

After more than a decade of being closed and shored up with scaffolding, in 1998 – with financial assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund – the West Wing was completely refurbished, and re-opened under its original name of Spring Hill College (as the sixth form of Moseley School). To coincide with its re-opening, the three daughters of Mr Gaskin published Moseley into the Millennium: Story of Moseley School, detailing and celebrating the history of the school.^[6]

Into the millennium

Since 2000, Moseley School has styled itself as 'A Language College', offering foreign language qualifications to its students in their own native languages, such as Urdu and Arabic, and in 2007, as an extension of this policy, David Peck, head teacher from 2001, negotiated a formal teaching partnership with the Hamza Mosque and Islamic Centre, Church Road, Moseley. A majority of the school's Board of Governors also wanted to introduce Islamic assemblies, and when this was vetoed, refused to co-operate in the day-to-day running of the school, eventually forcing Mr Peck to resign in December 2008 (though 95% of the students had signed a petition expressing their support for him).^[7] The following year, in a highly unusual move, the Board of Governors was itself dismissed by means of an order obtained by Birmingham City Council from the Department for Education, after relations broke down between it and its own appointee as interim head, Tim Boyes, who was also head of nearby Queensbridge School. Mr Boyes was subsequently confirmed in that position by the school's Interim Executive Board, which had replaced the Board of Governors.^[8] In April 2011 Moseley School formally became a foundation school, having hitherto been a community school. The Board of Governors of a foundation school has greater control over school finances, employment of staff and admissions policy, and less representation from the local community. In Moseley's case, since it remains without a Board of Governors, it is unclear how this change in status will be implemented.^[9] In September 2011, Mr Boyes returned to Queensbridge School and was replaced as head of Moseley School by Craig Jansen.

As part of the government's 'Building Schools for the Future' (BSF) strategy, in 2009 Moseley School had received the go ahead for a massive new rebuilding programme, involving the complete demolition of the East Wing (the former Moseley Modern School, now in a bad state of repair), with the exception of its more recently built sporting facilities. The rest of the area would become the school's main car park, and meanwhile a new building would be constructed straddling the boundary between the former grammar and secondary modern sites, partially on stilts to accommodate the steep incline from the latter to the former. The old grammar school building, or West Wing (Spring Hill College), would also have a number of alterations carried out to increase its capacity. These plans survived the Coalition Government's cuts almost completely intact, and work began in summer 2011.^[10]

List of head teachers

The following is a list of all those who have held the office of head teacher (earlier, headmaster or headmistress), or acted as such during vacancies, of Moseley School or its predecessor institutions, since the first secondary school was opened on the site in 1923.^[11]

Moseley Grammar School		Moseley Modern School
Major Ernest H. Robinson 1923-1956
Mr D. Bruce Gaskin 1956-1972		Mrs Eileen North, née Cohen 1955-1967
Mr Derek Moore (acting) 1972-1974		Mr Donald Wilford 1967-1974

Moseley (Comprehensive) School
Mr Alan Goodfellow 1974-1981
Mr Phil Bullock (acting) 1981
Mr John Lockwood (acting) 1981-1982
Mr David Swinfen 1982-1992
Mrs Mary Miles 1992-2001
Mr David Peck 2001-2008
Mr Tim Boyes (interim, also head of Queensbridge School) 2008-2011
Mr Craig Jansen 2011-

Alumni

The individuals below are listed by the Moseleians Association as famous Moseleians, former pupils of Moseley Grammar School (MGS), Moseley Modern School (MMS), or Moseley School (MS). Those who were pupils at the time of the merger are identified according to the school they started at.^[12]

• Sir Alan Cottrell (MGS). Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.
• Anthony Carthew (MGS). ITN News Reporter.
• Anthony Jackson (MGS). Actor.
• Anton Lesser (MGS). Actor.
• Barry Pritchard (MGS). Musician, The Fortunes.
• Bev Bevan (MGS). Drummer.
• Carl Chinn (Prof.) (MGS). Historian & Broadcaster.
• Chris Spedding (MGS). Musician.
• Daphne Slater (MMS). Olympic Sportswoman.
• David Bell (MGS). Mayor of Solihull 2008/09.
• Derek Hathaway OBE (MGS). Businessman.
• Frank Ifield (MMS). Singer.
• Geoffrey Gibbins (Dr) (MGS). Lawyer, Judge & Organist.
• Gladstone Small (MS). International Sportsman.
• Jasper Carrott OBE (Bob Davies) (MGS). Comedian.
• Joanne Malin (MS). Radio & TV Presenter.
• John Masding (Rev.) (MGS). Chairman of the English Clergy Association.
• John Taylor, Lord Taylor of Warwick (MGS). Politician & Convicted Fraudster.
• Kabir Ali (MS). Sportsman.
• Martin Woodhead (MGS). Professor of Childhood Studies.
• Maurice Herriott (MMS). Olympic Sportsman.
• Mickey Lewis (MS). Footballer, League Player & Manager.
• Nisar Chaudhry (MMS). International Sportsman.
• Noel Luke (MS). Footballer, League Player.
• Philip Walking (Prof.) (MGS). Pro-Vice-Chancellor at UCE.
• Richard Tandy (MGS). Musician.
• Rod Allen (Rodney Bainbridge) (MGS). Musician, The Fortunes.
• Roy Massey MBE (Dr) (MGS). Organist.
• Sharon Corbett (MMS). Commonwealth Sportswoman.
• Steve Rouse (MMS). Edgbaston Head Groundsman.
• Stuart Burgess (Rev. Dr) (MGS). The Highest Office in the Methodist Church.

External links

• Moseley School
• Moseleians Association
• Edubase

References

1. ^ Case study: Moseley School - A Language College, Birmingham
2. ^ Our Languages. Case study: Moseley School - A Language College
3. ^ Birmingham Mail, 25 February 2009
4. ^ Mail Online, 8 December 2010
5. ^ St Christopher's Church Woodlands Rd
6. ^ Celia Gaskin, Meriel Vlaeminke & Katherine Gaskin, Moseley into the Millennium: Story of Moseley School (1998) ISBN 1858581214
7. ^ Birmingham Mail, 18 Dec 2008
8. ^ Birmingham Post, 2 June 2010
9. ^ Foundation School Proposal – Moseley School: A Language College
10. ^ The Moseleians Association: Moseley School To Be Demolished!
11. ^ The Moseleians Association: A Profile of Moseley's Headteachers
12. ^ The Moseleians Association: Made in Moseley