Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town

Ossett Grammar School 1735 - 1969

In 1700, Ossett consisted of a number of scattered hamlets, arranged in a ring with the chapel-of-ease at the centre. The greater part of the district was unenclosed pasture land, on which householders had the right to feed sheep, cattle, and geese. It was on a vacant piece of land near the Church that the Founders built the "Free School" paying a rent of two pence a year to the Lord of the Manor "if and when demanded." The school being variously described as Free School, Charity School and later, Grammar School. 'Charity School' was used of any school controlled by the Charity Commissioners, by Act of Parliament.

School Committee and Public Subscriptions
In the early 1700s, education for all was highly topical and Locke, in 1693, published his famous essay, in which he pleaded for learning to be provided not only for the sons of the landed gentry and of professional men, lawyers, doctors, clergy, civil servants and such, but also for the children of farm labourers and mechanics. Five prominent men in London formed the National Society for Promoting Education of the Poor to arrange for the teaching of children. Committees were organised in various districts throughout the country by this group to start and maintain educational establishments. One such Committee was formed in Ossett before 1727.

About ten years later, by collecting subscriptions and their own gifts, they raised sufficient funds to erect a small classroom on waste land facing the chapel-of-ease in Ossett - the beginning of Ossett Grammar School, which was established specifically "for teaching the poor children within the township of Ossett". Later, this classroom became a small, low kitchen attached to the master's dwelling house. After the building of the first school and school house, the money remaining from the contributions was used to purchase four cottages in Cluntergate, Horbury; rents and profits from these houses was paid to the schoolmaster in half-yearly payments. When the lands in Horbury were divided, the trustees received a quarry and a parcel of waste land at Addington, together with two sittings free of charge in Horbury St. Peters Church. On the enclosure of the common land in Ossett at the beginning of the of the 19th century, the Commissioners awarded to the school, the half of the field at the corner of where Horbury Road and Sowood Lane meet; the other half of the field was given to the school a little later.

Church Links
In 1795, the schoolmaster was the Reverend T. Whitaker, curate-in-charge of the Chapel of Ease, close to the school Other curates are likely to have acted as schoolmasters. Early in the nineteenth century, the school was still closely associated with the Church and Ossett townsfolk complained that the governors and trustees conducted the school as a Church institution.

In 1836, Ann Haigh bequeathed more land to the school and the school was regarded clearly as an institution associated with the Church. If the schoolmaster ceased to attend and be a member of the Church of England, the trustees themselves were to cease the rents and profits to be used for repairing and improving the school and schoolhouse.

Early in the 1820s, the schoolmaster was Mr. J. Webster. He was a man of exceptional energy and ability. He wrote a "Grammar of English Language" which was held in high repute as a text book. He also compiled an Arithmetic textbook and invented a system of Shorthand. Webster was succeeded by Mr. William Cullingworth who died in 1847. Cullingworth's widow remained in the schoolhouse for a time and kept a school for girls before she moved to Dewsbury.

Competition
There was competition from schools founded by religious denominations and the expansion of elementary education in the first-half of the 19th century affected the Ossett school. It seems to have been mainly for primary education, though educational opportunities for older pupils were available. New sectarian schools drew away pupils and the Ossett school had to become an institution of higher education in spite of competition from established schools in Dewsbury and Wakefield.

External difficulties at this time were matched by internal problems. The practice of the headmaster receiving the rents from the school's properties in return for education fifteen poor scholars from Ossett had changed. The trustees had begun to keep the rents and now employed a master to instruct ten poor children with the profits from the fee-paying scholars. The rental income retained by the trustees was used to maintain the property and to keep it in good repair.

In 1805, the the trustees enlarged the school with an extension (in which the Ossett parish hearse was stored during the 1870s.) In 1837, the trustees made a great effort and erected a two-storey building, the last important alteration and this is the building shown below pictured in about 1900. The school building has been described as 'more like a tithe barn or warehouse than a school' and the premises had a single large room with a coke store in the centre and a blackboard at one end. Such playground as the boys had was the market-place outside.

Above: Old Ossett Grammar School in the centre of Ossett, which was demolished to make way for the new Town Hall, opened in 1908.

35 Pupils
In 1828, a Commission of Enquiry was conducted and the school was placed again on its formal footing for internal administration. Unfortunately, the school was not as prosperous as it was, and the number of boys in the school fell to 35, though in 1867, at the inspection by the Endowed School Commissioners, the number had risen to 67. The headmaster at this time was Mr. S.H. Kendall. The additional numbers proved too much for the limited space available in the school premises and the Wesley Street school premises (next to the Wesleyan Chapel) had to be rented for the extra pupils. The curriculum seems to have been typical of 19th century Grammar Schools with mathematics and Latin included, but no science or modern languages - these were to be added later.

In Mr. Kendall's time as headmaster, with the growth in secondary education, the building in the town centre proved too small altogether, but the endowments were not sufficient to fund extensions. Various suggestions were rejected, for example, to provide places with the endowment for Ossett children at Dewsbury or Wakefield schools; to join the Ossett and Dewsbury endowments to build one school, or to make one school for Ossett, Horbury and Thornhill.

Expansion
The population of Ossett had begun to increase rapidly after 1837 and in 1845, an elementary school was erected in South Ossett at which point the "Free Grammar School" changed its character. Like the grammar schools of Dewsbury and Batley, Ossett Grammar School, was at first a "Free School", that is an endowment was created to enable a certain number of scholars to be taught without the payment of fees. Gradually the names were changed to "Free Grammar Schools" and then to just "Grammar Schools". It was deemed by the trust-deed that scholars must be taught "reading, writing and accounts" and legally, a charge could have been made for additional subjects, but this was never done at Ossett Grammar School. The trust-deed also required the master to attend divine service regularly every Sunday at church.

In June 1881, the number of Trustees, which had fallen to three was increased to seven. Their first act was to raise funds to improve the school and the master's dwelling house. They appointed Mr. Michael Frankland of York (from 90 applicants) to the headmastership in December 1881 and he held the appointment for 31 years.

At about the time that Frankland was appointed as headmaster, attempts were made to claim a share from the distribution of Wheelwright Charities in Dewsbury. The Ossett trustees wanted £3,000. They would then sell the existing school site and building, but with the £3,000, they would build a new secondary school. The Commissioners ruled instead that Ossett children should find scholarship places at the Dewsbury Wheelwright Grammar School. Another 25 years was to pass before further progress was made to re-site the Grammar School.

Attempts were made to bring the curriculum up to standard. French was introduced and so was Greek. Fees varied; £3 per year for under-12s; £8 per year for over-15s. Latin brought an increased fee; and £1 was added if algebra went beyond simple equations, or if Euclid went beyond Book One. Seven free places were decided by examination - usually from between ten and twelve candidates. These free-place scholars had to carry out menial duties in the school, such as sweeping rooms and lighting fires.

The school now began to prepare pupils for entrance to Universities as well as for business life, and scholars from the school gained notable distinctions at various well-established Universities. The Trustees increased the annual value of the endowment from £26 to £54 and in 1892, Miss Hannah Pickard of Green Mount, Ossett bequeathed £2,100 for the purpose of founding two scholarships open to pupils who had been born in Ossett.

When Ossett became a borough, the Grammar School site was coveted by the new Town Council for its proposed new civic hall. The 1902 Education Act and the subsequent establishment of the West Riding County Council as the local education authority paved the way for the trustees of, what was still at the time, a charitable foundation to transfer the trust property, money and endowments to the Education Committee of Ossett Town Council. Representatives from Horbury Urban District Council were added to the Education Committee later.

A new scheme was approved by the trustees at their last meeting at 1, Sunnydale Terrace, Ossett on the 13th July 1906. Councillor Westwood chaired the meeting, attended by Messrs. Glover, Marsden and Smith and in September 1907 a new era began with the co-educational Ossett Grammar School opening at its new location at Park House, off Storrs Hill Road.

Above: Park House as it was before the red-brick extensions, on the left of the building, were added in the 1920s and 1930s to cater for an increase in pupils at the school.

Park House
In 1904, the old Grammar School had to move from the centre of Ossett, to make way for the construction of the new Town Hall. For a while, the school was housed in the Central Baptist schoolroom in old Church Street. When the Town Council took over the management of Ossett Grammar School in 1905, it was decided that the School should be a dual School with mixed-sex classes, the first of its type in the West Riding. The trustees were replaced by a Board of Governors, composed of representatives from Ossett Town Council, Horbury UDC, the West Riding County Council and a representative from Leeds University. Two ladies were co-opted since the school was co-educational.

Eventually, Ossett Corporation purchased Park House for £2,500, the value no doubt reduced because it had been used for the convalescence of victims of a smallpox epidemic. Meantime, the school continued at the Central Baptist schoolroom with 60 scholars until the end of the school year 1906-1907, whilst alterations at Park House were completed.

Park House, set in three acres of land (and nearby Rock House, which is virtually identical) was built in 1867 at a cost of £20,000 for Philip Ellis, a partner in Ellis Brothers, cloth manufacturers, then the owners of the adjacent Victoria Mills (Burmatex). The Ellis brothers made their fortune by selling cloth for uniforms to both sides during the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871) and the company occupied an unrivalled position in the West Riding as the manufacturers of army clothes. Philip Ellis died in 1877 and then there was a major slump in the cloth weaving trade in 1880 caused by tariffs on British goods by Continental countries. Many Ossett mill owners were unable to adapt and the Ellis family had to put Park House up for sale. By 1893, the business failed completely, following the death of Mr. W. Gartside, a local dyer, who lived at Wesley House, and whose executors called upon Eli Ellis, the surviving partner of Ellis Brothers, to pay them outstanding debts of £40,000 in cash.

Above: Late 19th or very early 20th century map of Park House as it was prior to the relocation of Ossett Grammar School from the Market Place. Nearby Victoria Mill was disused at the time this map was surveyed.

With its ornate staircase and beautiful stained-glass windows with representative designs of Art, Science, Literature and Music, Park House was formally opened by Alderman T.W. Bentley, Chairman of the Education Committee and of the newly-constituted Governors, for the commencement of the Autumn term, on the 24th September 1906, with a largely increased roll of 95 scholars and an augmented staff of 7. The new premises provided accommodation for 135 scholars, with Headmaster's and Governors' room, common rooms for male and female staff, six classrooms, and art room, dining room, chemistry laboratory, which was also arranged for tuition in physics, and a manual instruction and cookery room. All this enabled the Governors to widen the scope of instruction at the school.

In 1913, Mr. Frankland vacated the headship, and Mr. H.G. Mayo of Norwich School was appointed. Ossett and district shared with the remainder of the country the desire that their youth should have the benefits of a good secondary education, and the number of scholars at Ossett Grammar School gradually increased. In January 1918, Mr. Mayo took up a position at Bristol Grammar School and the headship was filled by Mr. G. Clark who had previously held the position of second master at the Lowestoft Secondary School. Mr Clark died in 1924 and his successor, Dr. H.G. Chapman was appointed on the 1st October 1924.

In 1921, the Governors erected three temporary wooden classrooms for the purpose of establishing a Preparatory Department, for which there had been a demand for a good many years. It is possible that this wooden building was still in use up to 1962 complete with gas lighting.

Above: Park House, Ossett, which became Ossett Grammar School in September 1907. More modern extensions can be seen on the left, which date from the 1920s. Park House is typical of the Gothic style of the day, with many gables, semi-ecclesiastical windows, arched doorways and a great deal of heavily ornate carved stonework.

Inside, despite a 100 years' use as a school, Park House retains much of its original character. The highly decorative tiled floor of the main hallway, its pattern echoed in the tiles of the fireplace, still looks remarkably fresh and has worn far better than later tiling in some of the doorways. The fireplace retains its lavishly carved canopy mantelpiece. Elsewhere, there is carved wood in abundance. Pulpit-like carvings support the half arch at the foot of the stairs. The newel posts at each turn of the stairs are similarly ornate.

In 1919, the Governors in consultation with the local Education Authority and the West Riding County Council considered adding permanent extensions to the Park House building to provide additional accommodation for 300 scholars. Plans were prepared by the West Riding Education Architect for an additional assembly hall, gymnasium, baths, domestic science rooms, chemical and physics laboratory with lecture room, elementary and advanced art rooms, manual instruction and metal-working rooms, commercial and music rooms and a library. This work was finally completed in the late 1920s and the Rt. Hon. Lord Eustace Percy, President of the Board of Education opened the new permanent extensions on the 30th October 1928. By now, there were about 230 pupils at the school, with a staff consisting of the headmaster, second master, two assistant masters, senior assistant mistress, seven assistant mistresses, art master and visiting staff for domestic subjects, manual instruction and commercial subjects.

In 1927, the Governors had set aside and annual sum of £30 from the school endowment to provide a "Leaving Scholarship" to enable one student to proceed to University. There were also six Entrance Scholarships, known as the "Pickard Scholarships", which were competed for annually by the children attending primary schools in Ossett.

During WW2, it was decided that Ossett Grammar School should be protected against bombing and fire by having a team of firewatchers on duty each night. In the event, the precautions proved to be unnecessary but every night a team consisting one master and several of the senior boys did their bit for King and country. Among the boys, it was a popular activity and the nightly payment of 9d (3.75p) ostensibly to provide a supper was generally regarded as a useful supplement to pocket-money.

Above: Boys at play circa 1961 at Ossett Grammar School. I don't know the origin of this picture but judging from the foot in the foreground, it was by one of the boys. The playing field was to the right of the road which led to the Chemistry Room, which I think was part of the old Park House stable block. The field is on a steep slope, but I recall playing cricket there at break times in summer. The old Victoria Mill chimney is very prominent in the background of the picture.

Above: Class Upper II in April 1963 posing outside the front entrance to Ossett Grammar School. I'm there on the back row - fourth from the right. Pupils moving into the second year at the school were streamed by ability into class sizes of about 30, which I think worked very well. Competition within your peer group certainly encouraged good academic performance.

Back Row: Gary Procter, John Leach, Bernard Klat, Allan Ingham, Robert Burns, Roy Cooper, Richard Saberton, Stephen Wilson, Ian Froggatt, Bryn Duckett, Geoffrey Holderness.

Middle Row: Not sure who, Christine Wilby, Carola Dawson, Stephen Biltcliffe, Kenneth Churchill, Terry Thomas, Martin Pay, Stephen Robinson, Margaret Harrop, Valerie Jackson.

Front Row: Margaret Ogden, Anne Fisher, Linda Barker, Christine Blackburn, Hilary Ward, Mr Orr, Not sure who, Wendy Whiteman, Jeanne Thomas, Susan Hibbins, Eileen Ely.

Above: Ossett Grammar School Rugby Union XV 1964/65.

Back Row from L-R: John Hemingway, Stephen Wilson, Ian Froggatt, Nigel White, Stephen Biltcliffe, Robert Burns, Not sure who, Not sure who, Geoffrey Holderness.

Front Row from L-R: Gary Proctor, Stephen Robinson, David Hopkin, Colin MacKenzie, Kenneth Churchill, Kevan Woolley, Stephen Shillitoe, Roy Cooper and Mr Strafford.

Dr. Chapman was succeeded as headmaster by Mr. E.C. Axford in January 1945 who remained there until he retired in July 1965. I remember Mr. Axford well during my time at the school in the 1960s and he struck me as a kindly man dedicated to the school and its pupils. Mr Axford was replaced by Mr. J.E.H. Kingdon, who was headmaster from September 1965 to December 1972, when he left Ossett for another school. Mr. Kingdon's successor was Mr. Roy Yates, who took up his duties on the 1st January 1973.

In 1969 , as a result of the policy by the then Labour Government's Antony Crosland, who had been appointed as Secretary of State for Education and Science by Harold Wilson, Ossett Grammar School ceased to exist and was amalgamated with Ossett Secondary School (Southdale School) to form a comprehensive to be known as 'Ossett School'. It seemed to be an urgent but in my view, a totally misguided personal crusade for Crosland, who vowed in his famous quotation: "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every f . . . . . g Grammar School in England - and Wales and Northern Ireland." The outcome has been a source of controversy ever since, with the result that very few Grammar Schools now remain in England and the majority of those left are fee-paying. Quite the opposite of what the original founders of education for all classes of people had in mind in the 18th Century.

Selective places continued to be found for children from Horbury and the surrounding villages until September 1973, when Horbury Secondary School became a comprehensive school, taking all children at 11 years in a comprehensive intake.

Further extensions were added in 1967 and then again in 1969, when the school became a Comprehensive, with the addition of a new Sports Hall and a Lower and Upper School. With the raising of the school leaving age to 16 in 1973, the Upper School became crowded overnight, with nearly 300 16 year-olds now in the fifth year.

On April 1st 1974, after local government re-organisation, under which the West Riding County Council and Ossett Borough Council disappeared, the school was placed under the administration of Wakefield District Council, with a board of Governors nominated by the District Council, plus three co-opted members, a teacher representative, a parent representative and the headmaster.

In the event, thanks to some very fine teachers and a progressive headmaster, Ossett School and Sixth Form College has blossomed to become one of the best performing Comprehensive schools in the country. It is said that house prices have risen sharply in Ossett and Horbury as parents move to the area so that their children can attend the school. Ossett School has had Technology College status since 1996 and Sports College status since 2006. In the Spring of 2006, Ossett School became one of the few state schools to be awarded a dual specialist status. The school will now be known as a Specialist Technology and Sports College. In 2007, there were 1,730 pupils in total of which over 400 were Sixth Form pupils. The new Sixth-Form college, Drake House, was opened in 2005 and was named after David Drake, a long-standing Governor at Ossett School.

The OfSTED Report in January 2007 described the school as ‘Outstanding’:

“Standards are above average and students achieve well throughout the school. GCSE results are better than might be expected in relation to students’ standards when they arrive in Year 7. The proportion of students gaining five or more grades A*-C is especially good and almost all students gain five or more passes at grades A*-G.”

“Students’ behaviour is exemplary in lessons and around the school."

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