THERE was a time when people tasked with titling a new project in Worcester showed a distinct lack of imagination – they named it “Elgar”. No doubt hoping that some of the magic attached to the surname of the city’s most famous classical composer would rub off. Which didn’t always happen.
A case in point being Elgar High School, created in 1983 to merge two existing high schools, Samuel Southall and Perdiswell. That project lasted 26 years before the plug was pulled, the school closed down and a new one called Tudor Grange Academy opened on the site in Bilford Road.
To be fair there were challenges from the start as the catchment area included an above average number of pupils from what were labelled “socially disadvantaged backgrounds”. That may have been so and there were some awkward headlines along the way before Elgar Technology College, as it had been re-named in 2000, closed in 2009 after failing to improve to Ofsted requirements. But it was not all bad news, and many students took the opportunities offered and came out well.
When long serving teacher Pam Clayton retired in 2001 after 18 years at the school, she was full of praise for its “fantastic children”. Formerly at Nunnery Wood High School, Mrs Clayton added: “Elgar is a fabulous school. The children have been the highlight. I wouldn’t have stayed here if they weren’t.”
The annual school prom was always a very glamorous occasion and there was never any reluctance to take on cutting edge subjects. In 2000 Elgar pupils premiered a play called Pride and Pleasure aimed at making youngsters aware of the risks of drug taking. Part of an initiative by drugs advisory service Turning Point it proved so successful other city schools were urged to follow its example.
Then in 2003 the school organised a successful international exchange programme with others from across Europe.
Forty six students and teachers from Holland, Poland and Romania spent a week at the BIlford Road campus completing multi-media and IT projects.
The scheme was part of Elgar’s third international week The Shape of Europe, which aimed to increase links with schools across the continent. Headteacher Tony James hailed the event “a great success”, but sadly that and others like it failed to maintain the hope and glory and six years later the famous name disappeared.
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