| AdminHistory | Founded in 1885 by the Church Schools Company, the Newcastle High School was governed in its early days by the Council of the Company through a local committee. In 1908, as part of a policy of decentralisation, the Company offered the rental of the premises in Tankerville Terrace, to which the school had moved from its first home in Jesmond Road in 1890, to the local governing body, which henceforth assumed full control over the affairs of the school.
In 1925, after problems over the rent, the governing body formed a registered company and bought the buildings. Members of the company consisted of parents, old girls and friends of the school, who had the right to nominate pupils. Administration of the school remained with the Board of Governors, comprising the Vicars of Newcastle and Jesmond ex officio, together with one member appointed by the Bishop of Newcastle, one appointed by the Canons of the Cathedral of St Nicholas, and six lay members elected at the annual general meeting, of whom at least three were to be women. At the same time, the school was renamed 'The Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School'.
Although primarily a day school, the third headmistress, Miss Gurney, took a small number of girls as boarders in her own home. The boarding house practice continued on a small scale (latterly run by a former pupil, Mrs Mildred Horsley), until the 1930s. During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Alnwick Castle, and became, for the duration, a mainly boarding school, with other girls billeted in the town of Alnwick. A Junior School reopened in Newcastle early in the war years, to ensure a continuing supply of new pupils.
Following the war, additional premises were acquired nearby at 4 Tankerville Terrace (later named 'Gurney House') (sold c2000) , and 17 Tankerville Terrace (Curtis House, sold 1984 to help fund the new Science block). In 1975 a new Junior School was constructed. To mark the school's centenary, a new science block was provided, opening in 1983. A new Art and Food Technology block was added in 1999.
In January 2013 it was announced that the school was to merge with Newcastle Central High School, a nearby independent girls school with a similar ethos. The new school was to be known as Newcastle High School for Girls, with the Senior School located in Church High's Tankerville Terrace premises, while the Junior School occupied Central High's Sandyford site. After 18 months of preparation, the merged school opened for the first time on 4 September 2014.
Further information on the school before 1935 can be found in the Jubilee Book (E.NC17/4/8/5). A Centenary history of the school was produced in 1985, in conjunction with the cataloguing and subsequent deposit of the school archives (E.NC17/4/21). |