Higher Grade Board School, Heath Place, Cheetham

NEW HIGHER GRADE SCHOOL IN CHEETHAM - The foundation stone of the new higher grade mixed school which the Manchester School Board is erecting at Heath Place, Cheetham, was laid by Mrs C P Scott on Saturday. The architects are Messrs Royle and Bennett, whose plans show a building having a frontage to Heath Place of 120 feet. The structure will be three storeys high, and will accommodate 500 boys and girls on the first floor, which comprises six classrooms and a hall, together with a master’s room, teachers’ room, and two cloakrooms. The ground floor contains a gymnasium or assembly hall, two cloakrooms, a manual instruction room, a teachers’ room and two covered playgrounds which ca be readily converted into four spacious classrooms should the necessity arise. The second floor contains a drawing room, two science classrooms, a chemical laboratory with store and balance rooms, a cookery classroom and a teachers’ room. There are three spacious and easy staircases, one at each end of the principal front and one at the extreme rear of the building, all giving convenient access to the corridors, which directly communicate with the various rooms. The lighting will be excellent, and in all cases admitted from the left of the scholars, while the drawing room has direct north light. All the rooms will be warmed by large open fireplaces. The total cost, including the site, furnishings and fittings, will amount to about £15,000. The contractors are Messrs R Neill and Sons. [Manchester Guardian 18 September 1893 page 8]

Memorial Stone laid September 1893. Opening 6 October 1895

Reference    Manchester Guardian 18 September 1893 page 8
Reference    Samantha F Barnes; Manchester Board Schools page 88