Board School, Thomas Street, Gorton (School No 30)

On Saturday the memorial stone was laid of a new Board school in Thomas Street Gorton. ... Mr Alderman Crossfield said the site on which the new schools were being erected was nearly an acre and a half in extent. It had cost the Board £3,750 to purchase it outright. The building and furniture would cost about £12,000, so that they would expend altogether £15,750. The school was to be a mixed school with accommodation for 700 boys and girls and 472 infants - a total of nearly 1,200. [Manchester Guardian 22 October 1894 page 6]

NEW BOARD SCHOOL AT GORTON. The Thomas Street School, which is the thirtieth erected by the Manchester School Board, but the first Board School in Gorton, was opened last night by Mr E J Broadfield, vice chairman of the Board. The work of building the school has been carried out by Messrs William Brown and son of Salford, from the designs and under the supervision of Messrs Royle and Bennett, Manchester. Situated in the midst of a dense population, the building will accommodate 1,270 children, namely 400 infants and 879 boys and girls (mixed). The site is an admirable one, covering as it does an area of 4,700 square yards, with a street frontage on every side - an arrangement which permits the admittance of ample light and open ventilation to the whole of the rooms of the building. The principal front is to Thomas Street, and is set back four yards from the building line, and the playgrounds and outbuildings are placed at the rear. A caretaker’s house is erected at the north-east corner of the girls’ playground. The school is planned on the central hall principal. The various classrooms are entered direct from the central halls - one on each side of the two floors - and there are separate entrances for boys, infant boys, girls and infant girls, two at either end of the building. The staircases, which are spacious and easy-going, extend from the basement to the upper floor. In the basement is space for a manual instruction room, 48 feet by 25 feet, with a large store-room; a cookery classroom together with a large kitchen, and cellars. A lift is conveniently placed for the convenience of fuel to the various rooms. All these rooms have a clear height of 12 feet 8 inches. The infants’ department is on the ground floor, and there is also on this floor provision for 240 children from the lower standards of the mixed school, comprising together a central hall 115 feet by 30 feet, and nine classrooms. Two large cloakrooms and two teachers’ rooms are entered from the main corridor, which gives access from the entrance to the central halls. The whole of these rooms have a clear height of 15 feet. The mixed department is on the upper floor, the accommodation of which includes a central hall 209 feet by 30 feet, and nine classrooms with cloakrooms and teachers’ rooms as on the ground floor. The central hall is 23 feet high and the remaining rooms 14 feet 6 inches in height. [Manchester Guardian 25 April 1896 page 7]

THIRTIETH MANCHESTER BOARD SCHOOL. The thirtieth School built by the Manchester School Board was opened yesterday week by Mr E J Broadfield. The new school is in Thomas -street, Gorton. It will accommodate 400 infants and 870 boys and girls, or 1270 in all. Messrs William Brown & Son of Salford built the school from the designs and under the supervision of Messrs Royle and Bennett of this city [Manchester City News Saturday 2 May 1896 Page 7].

Reference    Manchester Guardian 22 October 1894 page 6 - memorial stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian 25 April 1896 page 7 - opening
Reference    Manchester City News Saturday 2 May 1896 page 7 - opening
Reference    Builder 16 May 1896 vol I, Page 431