History of our School
Chillingham Road Board School opened its doors to pupils on the 7th November 1893 and is the oldest of Newcastle’s Board schools still in use.
A sum of £15,130 15s was sanctioned by the Newcastle School Board to build the school which, when it opened, was considered to offer the most sanitary environment of any educational establishment in the city, with a state of the art ventilation system comparable with the best in the country.
Impressive ornate chimneys, built in the Tudor style, form the basis of today's school badge and logo. Over the years our building has housed separate infant, junior and secondary schools, a WW2 billet and, for a time, the graphic design department of a local college.
Now it is home to both Chillingham Road Primary School and Chillingham Road Sports and Arts Centre.
The school still holds many records of its past, including a war memorial, artefacts, log books, registers and punishment books. It is listed as one of the City of Newcastle’s buildings of special architectural or historic interest, and on Heaton History Group’s list of ‘Heaton’s Favourite Buildings’.
Further records held within the school include admissions registers, log books, punishment books and numerous photographs.
As part of our Roots and Visions project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund we have created an archive of these records, making them accessible to researchers for the first time. Our volunteer researchers (Ann Denton and Heather Holmes) also produced a book entitled- From Log Books to Blogs on the history of the school and within the Sports and Arts Centre area of the school we have created a museum area to display the results of our project and research.
The school also holds a war memorial showing former pupils who lost their lives during the First World War and we have tried to find out something of their stories. The results of this research forms one of the displays in our museum.
If you have any information or pictures you would like to share with us please get in touch via email at admin@chillingham.newcastle.sch.uk or by calling the school.
To celebrate our 120th anniversary we held a series of events for both pupils and local community. Our aim was to record the story of life in Heaton over the last 120 years. We talked to former pupils of all ages and collected memories and stories of their time here which have been combined with information from the school records to create a museum showing changes in the school and the lives of families in this area. One of our former teachers and still committed volunteer, Kate Hancock is the drive behind many of the school's impressive mosaics,
Please follow this link to see some of the stories recorded so far
As a heritage school, we open our doors for the annual Heritage Open Day so that families and pupils both past and present can interact with our incredible museum and archives. If you wish to access the archives or arrange a visit within term time, Hilary England, our School Business Manager and instrumental member of the Roots and Visions project would always be willing to make this happen for you.
Click here if you would like some more information about our current history curriculum.
