Haydock Sports College - from the Beginning

The school was officially opened in February 1932 by Sir Percy Meadon, Director of Education for Lancashire. There were two quite distinct departments, one for boys the other for girls. The Headmaster of the Boys’ School was Mr A Ackroyd who had been an assistant master at Morecambe Grammar School. The Headmistress of the Girls’ School was Miss A Kenyon (later Mrs Watson) who had come from Wellingborough High School. There was very little liaison between the two departments although they used the same building. An invisible line was drawn between classrooms 14 and 15 and neither staff nor pupils crossed it.

Children were drawn from three Junior Schools, Richard Evans (known then as ‘Jaggers’, the name of a former Headmaster), the Colliery School (also known as ‘Taylor’s’ after a former Headmaster) and St James. It was a great thrill for most pupils to be able to attend the ‘new’ school.

The Domestic Science rooms (now rooms 1 and 2), Woodwork rooms (now rooms 6 and 7), Laboratories (now the Library and Music rooms) and the Hall (transformed into a Drama Theatre) were exciting places in which to be taught and outside the pupils’ previous experiences of what school was like.

Uniform presented no problems. Few Secondary Modern Schools had a uniform and Haydock children were pleased to have the opportunity of wearing one, although in the beginning not all parents could afford to buy it, as it was the time of the Depression when wages were low or fathers were unemployed.

In those days there were no school dinners. A few children, mainly from the Pewfall area, brought sandwiches and Mr Bennett, an admirable caretaker, provided them with a hot drink. The school had no secretaries. All clerical work was done by the Headteacher.

Around 1937 Mr Ackroyd, the Headmaster, was forced to retire because of ill-health and Mr Fitton, an assistant master from Fleetwood Bailey School, was appointed as Head and remained at Haydock until 1953. He left to become Headmaster of Huyton Hey, one of the first Comprehensive Schools, where he remained until his retirement.

Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939 many of the men staff joined the Forces and were temporarily replaced by women. Only two men returned, Mr Beale and Mr Bell (who later became Headmaster). Mr Stevens was killed in Arnhem and the remainder found posts elsewhere.

In the summer of 1941 the school was closed for a week to house families from Liverpool whose homes had suffered bomb damage. Many of these people were in a sorry state, having suffered nights of sleeplessness and loss of possessions. The hall was turned into a dormitory, mainly for the adults, and the children were accommodated by the local people. Some meals were cooked by the staff, with the Domestic Science teacher, Mrs Wood, being in charge.

In 1946 the headmistress of the Girls’ Department retired and was ultimately replaced by Mr Fitton when the two schools were joined to become a co-educational Secondary Modern School in 1947. In 1953 Mr Bell became Headmaster and remained so until his retirement in 1973. Mr Bell died, unfortunately, only two years later on 30th November 1975. Mr Shotton was the next Headmaster who stayed only two years and was succeeded by Mr Fletcher, who was appointed in 1976.

Mr Fletcher remained as Headmaster of Haydock High School (as it was now known) until 1995 when Mrs Johnstone became Headmistress. In 2002 Mrs Johnstone resigned and Mr Fullerton, who had been Acting Headteacher since 2001, was appointed Headteacher in May 2002.

In September 2008 Mr Fullerton took on a wider leadership role within St Helens Local Authority as an Executive Headteacher. In this role he continued to lead Haydock Sports College but, in addition, took on the strategic leadership of Sutton High Sports College.

Mr Fullerton returned to Haydock Sports College full time as the Headteacher in September 2009 and retired at the end of the Summer term in 2010.

Mr Pollard, previously Deputy Headteacher at South Wirral High School, was successful in gaining the position of Headteacher and began his time at Haydock Sports College in September 2010.