Liverpool Collegiate School

The Collegiate is a striking, Grade II listed building,[1] with a facade of pink Woolton sandstone, designed in Tudor Gothic style by the architect of the city's St. George's Hall, Harvey Lonsdale Elmes.

The foundation stone was laid in 1840 and the Liverpool Collegiate Institution was opened by William Gladstone on 6 January 1843, originally as a fee-paying school for boys of middle-class parents and administered as three distinct organisations under a single headmaster.

The Collegiate was purchased by Liverpool Corporation in 1907 and was transformed into a single, integrated establishment entrusted to provide a high quality grammar school education.

[2] Yearly dramatic or musical productions were instigated, including the school tradition of staging Gilbert & Sullivan operettas which endured for half a century.

A new school song, 'Paean Esmedunensis', with music by Gibson and words in Latin by his deputy, Victor Dunstan, was first performed at the Annual Prize Giving of 1931 and would last the lifetime of the Collegiate.

Vivat haec sodalitas, Decus Esmedunae, Nulli usquam posthabenda, Semper in caelum tollenda, Magnae virum cunae.

In July 1939, with war being anticipated, the Collegiate sent a circular to parents outlining plans for the entire school to evacuate the city and relocate to Bangor, North Wales.

An article about the evacuation from the December 1939 edition of Esmeduna, describes a remarkably orderly and enjoyable move, "Few will forget that memorable journey with its queer fusion of unreality and vividness.

"[3] The account details the warm welcome extended to pupils in Bangor, their dispersal to billets, the glorious weather and outdoor activities such as cycle rides, fishing and swimming.

After three weeks organisation, with lorries and cars having transported vital equipment from Liverpool, lessons took place at the Friar's Junior School, the local Youth Hostel and the Twrgwyn Chapel.

In 1936, the annual Founders Day Service had been held for the first time at the neighbouring St. Augustine's Church on the opposite side of College Road North.

Amidst post-war austerity, plans for a new Collegiate in West Derby appeared to evaporate, and Crofts believed that "the old building had many years of life before it still".

New showers were built at Holly Lodge, and from 1954 additional playing fields at Leyfield Road, West Derby were provided for rugby and athletics.

The new coat of arms was designed by H. Ellis Tomlinson, one of the country's leading heraldic experts and a French teacher at Baines' Grammar School in Poulton-le-Fylde.

The original motto, still on display in the mosaic tile badge in the Collegiate entrance hall, was retained and reads 'Ut Olim Ingenii Necnon Virtutis Cultores' which can be translated as 'When you have Knowledge also Cultivate Wisdom'.

Although several detailed plans were discussed and the long-term intentions of the LEA were clear, the proposals appeared to stall and the Collegiate carried on operating normally.

Renovation work and improvements to the building took place in the mid 1960s, and throughout the decade concerts, school plays and productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas continued as usual.

In 1967 following Crofts's retirement, the post of headmaster was awarded to Cyril R. Woodward, the vice-principal, English teacher and rugby enthusiast who first came to the school in 1946.

Over 80 of the new first years were from Roman Catholic families, which may seem surprising given that the original Collegiate Institution had been affiliated to the Church of England and this was still the case after the LEA assumed control in 1908.

By the end of a decade of major social change, the Collegiate had at least offered pupils guitar lessons and tolerated a progressive rock society.

This path however appears to have allowed for the flexibility suggested by Gibson in the 1930s, and more academic pupils could, for instance, skip their fourth year Shell form.

An increase in reported cases of indiscipline, including several violent incidents, were causing concern, as were four break-ins which resulted in theft from the tuck shop, school office, staff room, and an attempt to enter CCF armoury.

In June 1972, the Liverpool Education Committee banned all forms of corporal punishment in the city's schools, although both cane and slipper appear to have continued in common use throughout the seventies.

Initially, the only noticeable difference was that the building itself was cleaned with sand and detergent and its exterior changed from black to the original sandstone colour.

Outwardly supportive of the move to comprehensive status, it seems that Woodward did not relish presiding over such monumental change and took up a lecturing position at a college in the south of England.

In 1980 the O and A level results were the poorest ever recorded at the school and the annual Prize Giving was marred by incidents before and after the event with some Collegiate boys being attacked by gangs of youths.

Two further fires, the last on 19 October 1994, gutted the dilapidated interior, and although a grant of £250,000 from Inner City Enterprises had been scheduled to repair the roof, the Collegiate now appeared impossible to save.

Finally in 1998, regeneration specialists Urban Splash and architects ShedKM submitted a successful £9M plan, approved by the city council and English Heritage, to turn the school into designer apartments.

Liverpool Collegiate RUFC is an autonomous rugby club which was formed by ex-pupils in 1925, became independent in 1958 and continues to field senior, veteran and youth teams.