An aerial view over Grangefield Grammar School, Stockton c1960.
Courtesy of Gillian Brookes nee Hugall.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
An aerial view over Grangefield Grammar School, Stockton c1960.
Courtesy of Gillian Brookes nee Hugall.
Picture Stockton Archive 
I remember the fabric of the buildings, the tall windows, the green Keswick slate, the polished parquet as well as I remember Daddy Ken and the pervasive smell of Harry’s stale cigar smoke in the small staffroom. If the Treasury had been better with maintenance budgets and less keen on capital expenditure there would have been no need to rebuild. Fashions in school buildings and in teaching change but the reality of cramming boys and girls into classrooms doesn’t. There’s a generation or two since the seventies would have benefited hugely from the Gnome’s Monday grammar period. (End of rant.)
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This photo can be dated to 1954 when the newly established Combined Cadet Force was having a wooden hut constructed behind the boys sports hall. The footings for the new hut can just be seen on the lower left hand side of the image.
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My late Father, Brian Thompson BSc (1928-2011) was a Chemistry Teacher there from 1952 to December 1955, He moved to Leicester with his family (including me aged 1) in 1956, and lived in Leicester the rest of his life. Does anyone remember him?
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Stephen, here is what the school magazine recorded about your father at the time of his departure.
“At Christmas, 1955, Mr R.B.Thompson moved to Leicester, to become responsible for Religious Instruction at the Gateway Boys School. He came to Stockton in 1952 to teach Chemistry, but was developing his interest in religious and biblical studies during his stay and had recently been giving some time to Religious Instruction in the School. He had also done valuable work with the Junior Forum and the Christian Union”.
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Has the old school actually been knocked down? Really? If so, that is a shame; I attended the school opposite (Our Lady & St Bede) from across the playing fields, and remember Grangefield School well.
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This would be about a year before I joined as a little first year in September 1961. Having read some reviews written in 2015 I’m glad I didn’t go to see it before it was knocked down. One of the comments was that it was sad to see it in such a bad state. Although, the boys school always looked scruffier than ours! We got to see it when we went to those brilliant Boy’s School dances usually at the end of the Autumn/Winter term, I think.
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Buildings all gone now. Shame.
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I agree it’s a shame about the buildings, but there’s no shame in demolishing them to provide the school with a modern building. Fit for today’s needs rather than this sprawling 1930’s design, that was probably out of date before it even got completed. I think I enjoyed my time there (1980’s), so there is a slight sadness to see it go, but times change and when it comes to education I’m sure there are better things to spend money on than nostalgia.
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