st_gerards_school

I would like to say welcome to the children and Staff of the School who are using the site to research the history of Thrybergh. Please consider this your page, contact me should you have any questions, or would like to add information on this page.

Please note this is not an official School site, anyone wishing to contact the School should do so via the School contact information

St. Gerards School 2003 photo courtesy of Jonathan Dabs

School Name St Gerard's Catholic
Head Teacher Mr G. Hollinghurst
Address Park Nook, Doncaster Road,
Thrybergh, Rotherham,
Rotherham, S65 4AE
Telephone 01709 850568
Fax 01709 855948

The school which was built in 1928, and was opened on the 5th of November that year was a two storey building with six classrooms, a hall and administration area, to which an entrance waiting area and library was added in recent years.

St Gerard's School stands behind the church just off Doncaster Road at the top of the hill . It consisted of six classrooms, using the photo above you would start School in the infants classroom which was ground floor centre of the photo, which in my day was Mrs. Browns Class. A one hour rest period was given to the infants, and the classroom had approx. six little foldaway beds. These beds were allocated each day so that each pupil at some time would be allowed to sleep on a bed. The following year you would move along to the next classroom on the ground floor, when you went to the top floor classrooms you would start at the furthest classroom and work your way back toward the front of the School.

Before St. Bernard's was built at Herringthorpe you would finish School in Mr. Kavanhagh's class.

The Headmasters Study was on the top floor above the Kitchen at the front of the School. The main Hall not shown on the photo was at the right hand side of the School it also served as the dining room, later on as a youth club and was also used for many parish functions. The storerooms were underneath the classrooms, plus other storerooms at the back of the School. The playground visible was the girls and infant playground, the boys playground being at the other side of the main building. A little School Garden was located between the school and railway line which is off the photo on the left. . The football and playing field's being at the opposite end of the School grounds to the right of the photo. At the far side of the School from the Church was the view that once would have been quite splendid. Overlooking Dalton, Parkgate, Aldwarke, and Rawmarsh, .back in the 1950's the view was marred by the steelworks and grime. On the photo above on the skyline is Hoober Stand at nearby Wentworth.

Back then your classroom teacher taught all the subjects, so you never moved from classroom to classroom. or Teacher to Teacher. No sitting around in groups you sat in rows facing the Teacher. Punishment was either the cane or slipper [ Plimsols, the white sport shoes we wore before joggers appeared on the scene. ] The great thing for me was that every classroom had its own little library, of about 100 books, so I used to look forward to the times allocated for reading. Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Aesops Fables, Rudyard Kipling, Dickens I eagerly read them all.

School dinners were provided which were cooked at the Thrybergh School on Oldgate Lane, from there, they were placed in metal containers and transported to St. Gerard's. The meals were then dished out by the "Dinner Ladies" in the main Hall. The meals consisted of a main course followed by a dessert. A local Pig breeder would pick up the slops every afternoon to feed his pigs. We also used to receive a bottle of milk each day [ 1/3 pint ] and a cod liver oil capsule courtesy of the Government. The free milk was stopped by our old friend Mrs. Thatcher when she was Minister of Education, she earned herself the title of Thatcher the Snatcher in doing so. On a winters morning the milk would be frozen and often the silverfoil caps would stand an inch off the top of the bottle.

In those days St. Gerards had pupils from Dalton, Thrybergh, Ravenfield, and Maltby. The Maltby pupils would attend St. Gerards when they reached the age of eleven [ Is that right? ] This was until St. Bernard's School was built at Herringthorpe and then all the Catholic kids in the Rotherham area were sent to St. Bernard's to finish off their Schooling.
The School Hall was used for community events and prior to 1960 Joe Hills would run dancing lessons on a Saturday afternoon.
In 2003 celebrations were held in recognition of its 75th year. Peter O'Brien a local ex pupil who has been involved with the School for many years provided much of the information on display within the School during the celebration.

Head's

Mr. Conroy , retired approx 1962

Mr. Hartnett followed by

Sister Bridget 1982

Ann Simpson 2000

2001 onward Mr G A Hollinghurst
Teachers
The first Teachers at the School were
Mr Conroy

Mr Corrigan,

Miss Wharton,

Miss Crossley,

Miss Mc Nicholas

and Miss Jennings

Later members of staff

Miss M. McDermot,

Mrs Kane,

Mrs.Heenan,

Miss Miskell,

Mr. Owen Kavanagh,

Mr. Peter Paine,

Miss Wallwork,

Mrs Mary Brown,

Miss Devoto,

Mrs Bradbury,

Mr. Myers.

Kitchen Staff
Mrs Burke, Mrs Wood Mrs Brennan 1950's
Sylvia Kelsall nee Ward 1970's
Rosemary Towey,

Alice Moxon,

Class Organisation for 2003/2004

Teaching Staff
Head Teacher Mr. G. A. Hollinghurst
Reception/Year 1 Mrs. A. Frost
Year 1/2 Miss. B. Jenkinson
Year 3/4 Mrs. B. Storey
Year 4/5 Mr. C. Roberts
Year 5/6 Mr. G. Reilly
Additional Support Mrs. C. BaileyTeacher

Governing Body 2003

Mr. C. MacCormac (Chairperson)
Mr. D. Mayer (Vice Chairperson)
Mr. D. Graham (Foundation Governor)
Mr. A Battersby (Foundation Governor)
Mr. B. Joyce (Foundation Governor]
Mr. K. Finch (Foundation Governor)
Fr. O’Connell (Foundation Governor)
Mrs. W. Egan (L.E.A. Rep)
Mrs. A. Frost (Teacher Governor)
Mrs. J. Slack (Parent Governor)
Mrs.Y.Hamshaw (Parent Governor)
Mr. A. Hollinghurst (Head teacher)

SCHOOL INFORMATION

St Gerard’s provides education for children between the ages of four and eleven.
At present, five classes of mixed ability pupils are arranged according to age. The classes are Foundation Stage 2 and years 1 to 6, according to National Curriculum groupings.
School Hours
Infants
9:00-12:00    1:00-3:00
Juniors
8:45-12:00       1:00-3:15

Breaks: 10:30-10:45a.m. 2:00-2:15p.m.
Record of Attendance
Sept 2002- July 2003
Attendance – 95.09%
Authorised absence 4.85%
Unauthorised absence 0.06%

School Uniform
Boys:
Grey trousers
White shirt/polo
Navy jumper/sweater
Girls:
Grey skirt/trousers
White/blue, blouse/polo
Navy jumper/cardigan
Blue/white check summer dress

Uniform with the school logo is available from the school, including:
POLO SHIRTS, SWEATSHIRTS, CARDIGANS, V-NECK JUMPERS, FLEECES

Holiday 's
School Closes PM    School Re-opens AM
        Monday 6th September 2004
Half Term    Friday 22nd October 2004    Monday 1st November 2004
Christmas    Wednesday 22nd December 2004    Tuesday 4th January 2005
Half Term    Friday 11th February 2005    Monday 21st February 2005
Easter    Thursday 24th March 2005
    Monday 11th April 2005
May Day    Friday 29th April 2005
    Tuesday 3rd May 2005
Spring Bank    Friday 27th May 2005
    Monday 6th June 2005
Summer    Friday 22nd July 2005

Holiday Dates
Notes:
1) Public Holidays are 27, 28 December 2004, 3 January, 25, 28 March, 2 May, 30 May and 29 August 2005
(All these dates fall within the school holidays)

"A recent Government inspection rated St. Gerard's as above national average in education"

Many thanks to Head Teacher Mr. G. A. Hollinghurst, and the Staff of St. Gerard's for their help in obtaining factual information for this page.

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STATEMENT :

I have no affiliation with any Trade Union, Political body, or organization regarding the information on this site. All information on this site is Factual and correct to the extent of my knowledge. There is no intent to cause offence to any individual. Should you spot an error please let me know and that error will be corrected.

PEASE NOTE:

This site is the result of over 7 years research, and compilation, should you wish to use any of the content for publication of literature please contact me. The poetry and life of James Ross, the story of St. Leonard's Cross, and other items on this site were compiled, and first published on this site in their present context as a study of Thrybergh. If you use this site as a source, out of courtesy, please give credit where it is due as I have done on this site where appropriate.
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