Northampton Technical High School

An Article by Headmaster - B. S. Howard  -  February 1958

In January 1945, the Developments Sub-Committee of the Education Committee considered the organisation of secondary schools in Northampton from the point of view of numbers and also the type of equipment and the varying ability and aptitude of the pupils who would pass through them and recommended the provision of a Technical High School.  In furtherance of this policy, as from the 1st April 1945 the Junior Technical School, previously part of the College of Technology and admitting its pupils at the age of 13+, became the Technical High School; the first pupils of 11+ were admitted in the following September, and on the 1st October 1946, the first and present headmaster took up his appointment.

In the Development Plan for Primary and Secondary Education provision was made for a new Technical High School which would admit annually 3 forms of boys and 1 of girls, an estimated total roll of 630 pupils.  In reaching this decision the Committee were influenced partly by the report of the Percy Committee and the emphasis which it placed on the need for the fullest possible application of science to industry and on the necessity for counteracting the drift of many of the best pupils into non-industrial occupations; partly by the variety of industries growing up in and around the County Borough.

Despite the case made for the Secondary education, of the first instalment of £59,200, £30,000 came from the Education Building Programme in respect of Further Education as the school was required primarily in order to release urgently needed accommodation at the College of Technology.  Work on this first phase, comprising the classroom block, was commenced in March 1954, and in October that year, at a ceremony presided over by Alderman F Tollit, then Vice Chairman of the Education Committee and in the presence of the Mayor, Alderman J. V. Collier JP, Alderman A. L. Chown, then Chairman of the Committee, laid the foundation Stone.

The second phase, comprising of the Science and Workshop Blocks, Halls, Library, gymnasium and cloakrooms and costing £134,000 (could not read the last 3 digits), was begun in June 1955.  In September 1956 the first pupils were transferred to the school from the College of Technology.  By September 1957 the Science Block was available and the remaining pupils were removed from the College, although only in recent weeks has the remainder of the school been taken into use.

The furniture and equipment for the school, with its emphasis upon the sciences and crafts, has cost approximately £34,000.

Throughout the period of its life as an entity distinct from the College of Technology the school has been developing rapidly both in character and in the shape of its curriculum.  To a widening choice of Modern Languages will shortly be added Latin and the growth of both Arts and Science VIth Forms is proceeding satisfactorily.  The option of courses with commercial and technical bias, for which the school is specially equipped, still remains.  This is now balanced, however, by the opportunity to follow courses leading to entrance into both Arts and Science Faculties of the Universities, Teacher Training Colleges and Colleges of Advanced Technology.  Thus the earlier concept of a school with a curriculum biased towards crafts and the applied sciences is now outmoded and the Technical High School with its wider range of opportunity must be regarded as the mid-twentieth century version of the earlier grammar schools which, with their emphasis on classical studies, echoed the vocational requirements and the culture of their age.

The new buildings which are situated at the corner of Trinity Avenue and Balfour Road form a compact architectural group arranged around a courtyard, dominated by a five story high classroom block.  This somewhat unusual arrangement was adopted in order to retain as much as possible of the site as playing fields.

The main entrance from Trinity Avenue leads into a spacious entrance hall with the administrative offices on the left on the ground floor of the classroom block and the assembly hall, stage, library, music room and gymnasium are on the right.  Straight ahead, doors open into the courtyard to the south of which is the science block, linked to the teaching block as first floor level by cloakrooms.  At the western side of the courtyard the single storey workshops link the science laboratories to the lower ground level.  Here below the gymnasium are placed the changing rooms and showers.  Extensive playgrounds and playing fields are adjacent to the school.

CONSTRUCTION

The five storey classroom block is constructed "in situ" reinforced concrete employing the box frame type of construction, faced externally with red facing bricks.  Wood wool slabs were used internally as permanent shuttering.  Large areas of the principal elevation consists of windows with galvanised steel frames and wall cladding.

The assembly hall has "in situ" reinforced concrete columns supporting steel roof trusses which carry a dome shaped concrete roof, 3 inches thick.  The large windows are framed with galvanised steel.  The construction adopted for the gymnasium and assembly hall stage is of load-bearing brickwork with pre-cast concrete floors and steel roof trusses carrying an "in situ" concrete roof.  The two storey science block is built entirely of "in situ" reinforced concrete with hollow tile floors and roof and the workshops are of a similar construction with a continuous shell concrete barrel-vaulted roof.

To allow for thermal expansion the buildings are divided into separate structural units with expansion joints which consist of a 1 inch clear gap between each unit, weather-proofed externally by flexible metal strips.

The roof of all the buildings are covered with three layers of bituminous roofing felt laid on half inch thick fibre board finished on top with white spar.  The only exception is the roof of the five story classroom building which is finished with asphalt laid on a vermiculite screed.

External Finishes

The exterior is faced with 2.5 inch red "Ibstock" rustic bricks with reconstructed stone cills and copings.  Windows are framed with rustproof steel and the entrance doors are in timber.  Aluminium framed clerestory glazing has been used in the workshops.

Internal Finishes

In order to reduce the noise in the school, rubber flooring has been used in the circulation spaces and studded rubber in the classrooms.  The assembly hall, stage and gymnasium have hardwood strip or block flooring, the workshops granolithic concrete or Granwood flooring and the library and certain other rooms cork tiles.

Walls are plastered and finished with flat oil or emulsion paint.  Walls in lavatories and showers have been tiled and the walls of changing rooms are are fair faced brickwork painted with oil paint.  The rear wall of the assembly hall has been panelled with hardwood as an acoustic absorbent whilst over the stage a timber reflector will help to reflect speech.  Ceilings throughout are generally Astralux, either suspended or secured to concrete soffits, using sheradised tees over the large areas.  Armour plate glass is used in doors and windows where there may be  danger of breakage.

Services

The buildings are heated by two low-pressure hot water boilers using oil as fuel.  The oil tanks have been positioned some distance away from the building in the cycle sheds and an underground service duct leads to them.  The plant is capable of automatic control on either day or night loadings, with clock control equipment for weekend firing.

The various rooms are heated by a combination of radiator and fan driven convectors, a combination which allows for quick adjustment of air temperatures to particular needs.

Hot water for domestic purposes, lavatories and showers is supplied from the same central plant through a calorifier.

Forced ventilation is used to the fume cupboards in the chemistry laboratories, with extractors over the stage and in the gymnasium, showers and drying rooms.

Tungsten lighting is employed throughout with special fittings in the assembly hall and gymnasium.

Class changing bells are controlled from the staff block.

The school was designed in the Borough Architect's Department.