Wade Deacon High School
Encyclopedia
Admissions
It currently has no sixth form but has shown interest in getting one and asking for support by parents and pupils. It is situated on Birchfield Road (B5419) between the districts of FarnworthFarnworth, Cheshire
Farnworth is part of the town of Widnes which is in the Borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was a village in south Lancashire between Prescot and Penketh...
(to the north) and Appleton (to the south) and opposite Victoria Park. Widnes railway station
Widnes railway station
Widnes railway station is a railway station in the town of Widnes, in the Halton unitary authority, in the county of Cheshire in North West England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building...
is just north of the school, and Widnes Golf Club is next door to the west. It is in the parish of St John, Widnes.
Grammar school
It was formerly two grammar schoolGrammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
s - Wade Deacon Grammar School for Boys and Wade Deacon Grammar School for Girls. The school was named after Sir Henry Wade-Deacon CBE, Chairman of Lancashire County Council for four years until January 1931, and was one of seven sons of Henry Deacon
Henry Deacon (industrialist)
Henry Deacon was a chemist and industrialist who established a chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England.Henry Deacon's father was also named Henry Deacon and his mother was Esther Deacon, his father's cousin. The family were members of the Sandemanian church, one of whose members, Michael...
, an important local industrialist of the United Alkali Company (now Ineos
Ineos
INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom...
) and friend of Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
. He died on 29 July 1932 aged 79, being born on 18 October 1852. He left a will of around £75,000.
It was designed by Stephen Wilkinson, the architect of Lancashire County Council. It had room for 550 boys and girls. The grand-designed building was made of Ravenhead
Ravenhead
Ravenhead is an area of St Helens in the North West of England. It is bordered by Thatto Heath, Sutton Heath, Eccleston and the Town Centre. The area is thought to take its name from a farm once located nearby , while the 'head' portion of the name represents its location at one of the higher...
and multi-coloured rustic bricks with stone dressing
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
s. The floors of the main entrance were made marble terrazzo
Terrazzo
Terrazzo is a composite material poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of marble, quartz, granite, glass or other suitable chips, sprinkled or unsprinkled, and poured with a binder that is cementitious, chemical or a combination of both...
. The main drive from Birchfield Road was finished with Carnforth
Carnforth
- References :...
gravel. The building included two hard tennis courts. It opened as a single mixed grammar school in September 1931 with grounds of 40 acres (161,874.4 m²). The school separated into separate gender schools in September 1947, next door to each other, with 400 in the boy's school and 450 in the girls' school. It was administered by the Widnes Committee for Education, part of Lancashire Education Committee, based on Lugsdale Road, and later in the 1960s known as the Widnes Excepted District. The girls' school had 700 girls in 1953, 500 in 1958, and 600 from 1967-74. The boys' school had 450 boys in 1953, 600 in 1960, and 700 from 1964-74. Rugby was an important sport at the boys' school.
In April 1974 it came under the jurisdiction of Cheshire Education Committee.
Comprehensive
It became the Wade Deacon High School in September 1974 for ages 11-16. The headmaster, Mr Ernest High Smith, came directly from the Kingsway County Secondary School, a secondary modern schoolSecondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...
on Kingsway, which formed the comprehensive with both grammar schools. He left in December 1978. A levels would be taken at Widnes VI Form College or Halton FE College. In April 1998, it was administered by Halton borough.
Academic performance
It gets very good results on paper at GCSE: the best in the borough of Halton, and comparable with many Cheshire schools. Like all schools in Halton except one catholic school (which is next door), it has no sixth form.Wade Deacon Grammar School
- Alan BleasdaleAlan BleasdaleAlan Bleasdale is an English television dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.The Bleasdales live in prescot,liverpool,wales and london.-Early life:Bleasdale is an only child; his father worked in a food factory and his mother...
, renowned playwright (1957-1964) - Prof James DurbinJames DurbinJames Durbin is a British statistician and econometrician, known particularly for his work on time series analysis and serial correlation.He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge where his contemporaries included David Cox and Denis Sargan...
, Professor of Statistics from 1961-1988 at the London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, and President from 1986-7 of the Royal Statistical SocietyRoyal Statistical SocietyThe Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
and from 1983-5 of the International Statistical InstituteInternational Statistical InstituteThe International Statistical Institute is a professional association of statisticians. The Institut International de Statistique or International Statistical Institute was founded in 1885 although there had been international congresses from 1853.. The Institute publishes a variety of books and...
, and who invented the Durbin testDurbin testIn the analysis of designed experiments, the Friedman test is the most common non-parametric test for complete block designs. The Durbin test is a nonparametric test for balanced incomplete designs that reduces to the Friedman test in the case of a complete block design.-Background:In a randomized...
(1934-41) - Christopher Evans, cardiothoracicCardiothoracic SurgeryCardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of diseases affecting organs inside the thorax —generally treatment of conditions of the heart and lungs .-Cardiac / Thoracic:...
physician and President since 2006 of the Medical Defence UnionMedical Defence UnionThe Medical Defence Union is the largest medical defence union in the United Kingdom, and is one of three major medical defence organisations in the country.The MDU was established in 1885 and was the first of its kind in the world...
(1953-60) - Sir John Evans, Chief Constable from 1989-2002 of Devon and Cornwall ConstabularyDevon and Cornwall ConstabularyDevon and Cornwall Police, formerly Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England and the unitary authorities of Plymouth, Torbay and the Isles of Scilly....
(1954-9) - Fred LawlessFred LawlessFred Lawless is a British writer from Liverpool who has written for television, radio and theatre.-Biography:Fred Lawless was born in Dingle Liverpool. He attended St Patrick's School in Toxteth before his family moved to Halewood. He later attended the Wade Deacon Grammar School in Widnes...
, writer and producer for BrooksideBrooksideBrookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003... - Edward Morland, Chief Executive from 2003-2005 of AEA Technology (Rail)AEA TechnologyAEA Technology plc was formed in 1996 as the privatised offshoot of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. It is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index. Originally it consisted of divisions with expertise in a wide variety of areas, mostly the products of nuclear-related research...
- Gordon OakesGordon OakesGordon James Oakes was a British Labour Party politician.Oakes was educated at Wade Deacon grammar school, Widnes and at Liverpool University...
, local Labour MP for HaltonHalton (UK Parliament constituency)Halton is a county constituency in Cheshire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:The constituency was created in 1983...
from 1983-97 and for WidnesWidnes (UK Parliament constituency)Widnes was a county constituency in England, based on the town of Widnes, in Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.-History:...
from 1971-83 - Steve PlattSteve Platt (UK journalist)Steve Platt is a British journalist and former editor of the New Statesman magazine .-External links:* *...
, journalist - Agatha Ramm, historian
- Sir Ken Robinson, author (1963-1968)
- Frank Leslie Wright, Financial Editor from 1953-1957 of The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Stephen MylerStephen MylerStephen Myler is an English rugby union player who plays at Fly-half for Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership.-Rugby league career:...
, Professional Rugby Union player, Northampton Saints and England - Rachel McDowallRachel McDowallRachel Anne McDowall is an English actress who made her debut in 2008 film Mamma Mia! The Movie.- Biography :McDowall was born Rachel Anne McDowall on October 4, 1984, in Liverpool, England. She graduated from Laine Theatre Arts college in Epsom...
, Film Actress - Daniel Hulme, Widnes Vikings Rugby League player
- Christopher Lunt, Widnes Vikings Rugby League player