KEEP TROTH
PERCY JACKSON SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Percy Jackson Grammar School comprised several buildings developed over the years.
1939 The original main building and the gymnasium
1940 Air Raid Shelter - World War 2
1948 ‘The Prefabs’, temporary building to accommodate increased yearly intake
1954 The Science Block: laboratories, Domestic Science facilities and four general classrooms
1966 The Sixth Form block
Below we explore some features of the buildings and how they changed over time.
MAIN BUILDING
Main Entrance
Aerial view from the WYAS Report 2012, prior to demolition.The 1954 Science Block lies to the left of the photo.
WYAS Report 2012 - click on the PDF symbol
It's a BIG report so will take a minute to load!
As with most buildings, the most used part and first thing you notice is the entrance. The school entrance was via two oak doors, above which was an Art Deco glass panel. Above the entrance there was a balcony, the balcony railings were of particular interest as they were ornate Art Deco design which included the initials PJGS for Percy Jackson School. Behind the balcony were French windows which were attached to the library. Above these were two flagpoles attached to Art Deco mountings. The entrance itself was used as a backdrop for school photographs; be they staff photos of school team photos and therefore feature heavily in the school archives.
The art Deco panel over the doors and the railings around the Balcony with the PJ logo, below which are the remains of the smashed railings which were retrieved and donated to Outwood Academy who have promised to use them as part of a permanent memorial within the new school buildings. One of the flagpoles was also retrieved and it was hoped to reuse this near the school, however, it was discovered to be too poorly preserved for re-use, instead it was salvaged and it is hoped that commemorative items can be made from it. Film of the demolition of the entrance can be seen on the video page.
HALL
The Hall was always the focal point of the school, used daily for assembly, it was also used for school concerts & plays. The hall had some very nice Art Deco decoration along its walls and around the stage, it remained virtually unchanged throughout its lifetime, except for the stage being blocked off and used as a screen for presentations. Sadly, we were unable to salvage much from the hall, except for the wooden stairs leading up to the stage which is being used for commemorative items. The wooden floor was sold, its location is unknown, but it is thought that it will end up in a rather posh house somewhere in the London Area.
GYM
The Gym was originally a separate building located next to the school on the Northern side, it had long windows reaching almost to the floor but at some point, these were shortened and during the 1980’s a corridor was built linking the gym to the school. Also, at some point around this time it fell out of use as a gym and became a performance studio.
DINING ROOM
The dining room was situated on the bottom floor of the Eastern wing of the school just opposite the Hall, although it was upgraded over the years with new Catering equipment, new lighting and tables, it remained intrinsically the same.
QUADRANGLES
There were two quadrangles at the school situated between the West & East wings and split by the hall, they were places of tranquility, each had borders with flowers trees and its own circular fishpond.
SCIENCE BLOCK
The science block was a separate building on the northern side which was separated from the main building by the playground.
The building had its facilities upgraded many times over the years but the the fabric of the building hardly changed.
LIBRARY
The library was another important room in the building, not only was it well stocked with books, but it also had many wonderful Art Deco features such as the wooden wall clock, which did not survive the years and the ceiling lights. It was refurbished during the past few years and was used as a boardroom.
THE 'PREFABS'
1948 Temporary Classrooms: ‘The Prefabs’.
A U-shaped block of four classrooms with two cloakrooms was constructed of prefabricated concrete panels to the east of the gymnasium and began accommodating pupils from September 1948. This block was mainly to serve as form classrooms for first-year pupils. By this time an entry year of four classes (about 120 pupils) had been established, and the school roll number was nearly 650. In school years 1946/47 and 1947/48 two first year classes (1a and 1b) were housed within Adwick Park Junior school and pupils commuted across the road to the main school for the hall and specialised facilities.
Writing in the School Magazine 1948/49, the head says “It is a pleasure to be able to record that these rooms have proved considerably more sightly, and pleasant to work in, than was expected when the word “prefabs” was first mentioned.” A case of damning with faint praise?
Twelve years later, the editorial of school magazine ‘The Balkite’ 1960-61 decried the “prefabricated rooms which still disfigure the rear of the school.” But the prefabs remained a permanent feature throughout the life of PJGS.
‘The Prefabs’ – right foreground
THE AIR RAID SHELTER and
ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY
In late 1939, the first head, Mr Field, with the responsibility of establishing the new school, had to cope with the complications of a world war. A priority was to construct an air raid shelter, whilst his pupils decorated their gas-masks and speculated on a romance between their teacher and the captain of a battleship.
In early 1940 the air raid shelter was constructed across the drive, parallel with the school frontage, and masked to the front by rose gardens. Whilst there were regular evacuation practices – air raid drills - it was reportedly never used in earnest. After the War, throughout the life of PJGS access to the shelter by pupils was ‘strictly forbidden’ under penalty of detention.
There was one major exception: the school’s 21st ‘Coming of Age’ celebration in July 1961, when the air raid shelter became the ‘Tunnel of Terror’. Physics master, Alan Dixon, explained that the “Tunnel of Terror” was created in the air-raid shelter with lighting and sound effects provided by the physics department.
We believe the shelter was eventually dismantled around 1984, long after the closure of the Grammar School.
A pictorial guide to the air raid shelter which also includes and entry from the Doncaster Free Press 31 Jan 2008 can be found here -
In 2008 during initial work for the construction of the Northridge Community School graves were discovered under the site of the former air raid shelter – and directly opposite the Head’s office! This necessitated an archaeological dig before construction could begin, which revealed that it was an Anglo-Saxon cemetery dating to around 600-700 AD. A total of 37 graves was found, of which 35 held skeletal remains. There were also traces of Roman pavement. Surely, the graves must have been noticed when the air raid shelter was being excavated?
‘Le-street’ as in Adwick-le-Street, refers to a Roman road – the Great North Road in this instance - and is a marker of traffic over the centuries.
A FEW OTHER FEATURES
Obviously there are far more features to the school than can be shown on this website, so if you would like to discover more you can by purchasing one of the Archive DVD’s or Ken Cooke’s book on the school, available on this site.