Two Newcastle Schools To Merge
28 January 2013, 00:30 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50
Central Newcastle High School and Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School announce plans to join together to form Newcastle High School for Girls
The new school, based in Jesmond, will educate girls aged from three to 18, combining the best of Central High and Church High to create a "vibrant learning community".
Commenting on the announcement, Central High Head, Hilary French (Pictured) (who will become Head of the new school when it is launched in September 2014), said:
"It is a privilege and daily joy to me to be working in a community dedicated to creating the best environment for girls so that they have every opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Girls relish the space - both learning and physical - to grow and test themselves intellectually, creatively and physically.
The chance to develop a school for girls incorporating all that we know about the way that girls learn, the spaces they need, what great teaching looks like for them and how the day can best be shaped for them is hugely exciting."
Joy Gatenby, Head of Church High, will stay on full-time as an executive advisor to the new school, and an integral part of the leadership team, until her retirement in July 2015.
She said
"The two schools have so much in common - both have a history and a heritage in the city and a long-standing commitment to bringing out the best in every individual girl in our care.
As independent girls' schools focused on the pastoral care and personal and academic development of our girls, there's much we can learn from each other.
We shall take the best of Central High and the best of Church High - academically and creatively - to make the very best school in the region.
Our girls will benefit from excellent, focused teaching, the use of digital technology and superb facilities in sport, the arts, science, languages - indeed across the whole curriculum.
I'm enormously excited by the opportunities this joint venture will provide our girls."
The two existing schools will operate in parallel for the next academic year, fully merging in September 2014 when the current cohorts of A Level and GCSE students have finished their courses, ensuring minimum disruption to the girls.
The proposal is to redevelop the Church High site on Tankerville Terrace for use as the Senior School and Sixth Form for girls aged 11-18, while the younger pupils will be accommodated at Central High's newly renovated Chapman House on Sandyford Park.
Central Newcastle High School GDST moved to its current site on Eskdale Terrace, Jesmond in 1895.
It has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the leading girls' school in the country and combines outstanding pastoral care with academic excellence and a strong emphasis on the performing and creative arts to produce girls with a real zest for life and learning and a strong sense of self-worth.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School, based in Jesmond, Newcastle, first opened its doors in 1885.
