FOREWORD

The blessing and opening of St. Joseph's Grammar Technical School is for all of us an occasion of special joy. It is the first of six new Grammar Technical Schools which have been planned to bring Catholic Grammar and Technical School education within the convenient reach of almost every Catholic home in the two counties. St Joseph's opens today officially; it will be followed by the Grammar Technical schools at Gateshead, Lanchester, Stockton and Whitley Bay. The building of these will begin as soon as we receive permission. We look forward also to St Francis' Grammar Technical School in West Hartlepool receiving official recognition in the near future.

We are deeply grateful to God for answering our prayers in giving us St Joseph's School. It will offer splendid opportunities to our youth who can now receive a first-class Grammar and Technical School education here.

I warmly commend the efforts of the priests and people of South Tyneside which have made this school possible. May God grant that it will bring to our boys and girls rich blessings of soul and body, of mind and heart, and that it will spread its spiritual influence far beyond the bounds of the School.

The opening ceremony will provide an opportunity to thank the many good people who have done, and are doing, so much. I cannot even begin to do that here, but I know that everyone will join with me in thanking Father Blenkin who has kept a vigilant but kindly, cheerful and helpful eye on everybody and everything connected with the school

Lastly, I wish to express our gratitude to the long established Grammar Schools in the diocese which have laboured faithfully and resourcefully to cope so magnificently with the ever increasing flow of grammar school pupils until the relief, of which today is a beginning, would come to their aid.

+ JAMES
Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle

Official Opening of the
ST. JOSEPH'S GRAMMAR TECHNICAL SCHOOL
Mill Lane, Hebburn, County Durham.

By
THE RIGHT REVEREND JAMES CUNNINGHAM, L.C.L
Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle

Thursday, 9th June, 1960,
at 3 p.m.

St. Joseph's Grammar Technical School, Hebburn

SCHOOL GOVERNORS

Chairman: HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP
Vice-Chairman: The REV. J. WALSH
Correspondent to the Governors: The REV. W. BLENKIN
The REV. E. CONNELL     The REV. J. McLEARY
The REV. C. B. CRONIN     The REV. T. R. McLAUGHLAN
The REV. B. A. STRONGE     The REV. T. CAHILL
Appointed by Diocesan Authorities:
Councillor Mrs. S. McIntyre, Mrs R. LAYDON, Mrs A. TIMNEY
Appointed by County Council of Durham:
Alderman D. F. RILEY, Councillor R. BLACKBURN B.E.M., J.P., Councillor A. CUNNINGHAM, Councillor J. FRATER, Mrs M. A. BLACKBURN
Appointed by the County Borough of South Shields:Alderman Mrs M. E. HUTTON

COUNTY COUNCIL OF DURHAM

Chairman: Councillor J. S. GOODWIN, J.P.
Education Committee, Chairman: Councillor J. HUDSON, J.P.
Secondary Education Committee, Chairman: Alderman D. F. RILEY
Director of Education: G. H. METCALFE, Esq., M.A.
Deputy Director for Secondary Education: W. N. LINKLETER, Esq., M.A.

COUNTY BOROUGH OF SOUTH SHIELDS

Education Committee, Chairman: Alderman Mrs M. E. SUTTON
Director of Education: D. R. BARRACLOUGH, Esq., M.A.

The Craft Room

Order of Ceremony

1. BLESSING OF THE SCHOOL


• ENTRY OF HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP
• Hymns: "Ecce Sacerdos"
•      "Come Holy Ghost"
• OPENING PRAYER, BY HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP
• (After the Opening Prayer, His Lordship will proceed to the Blessing of the various parts of the school buildings, during which interval the children will sing certain hymns)
• RETURN OF HIS LORDSHIP - BLESSING OF THE SCHOOL CRUCIFIX





2. OFFICIAL OPENING OF SCHOOL


• HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP
• WILL DECLARE THE SCHOOL OFFICIALLY OPEN


• VOTE OF THANKS TO HIS LORDSHIP
• Will be proposed by:
  Councillor J. HUDSON, J.P.
  Chairman: Durham County Education Committee
  Seconded by:
  The Very Rev. Canon Forkin, B.A.

At the conclusion of the Opening Ceremony tea will be served, and it is hoped that guests will take the opportunity of inspecting the school.

The Physics Laboratory

THE TEACHING STAFF

Headmaster:
Mr G. A. KANE, B.Sc.

Miss Hallas with Form V

The Gymnasium

THE SCHOOL

The SCHOOL is an "Aided" grammar technical school built to serve Jarrow, Hebburn, Pelaw, Felling, Washington, Boldon and South Shields, and the Catholic parishes of these localities are to find £174,000 of the total building costs of £220,000. It provides 660 new grammar school places and will be maintained at capacity by an annual intake of 120 Catholic pupils who have qualified for awards offered by Durham County and South Shields. In order to ease the pressure upon the established Catholic grammar schools, the Diocesan Authorities, in agreement with the County Authority, have decided that, for the present, all Catholic pupils from North West Durham who gain County awards shall also be directed to attend this school, pending the building of the grammar school at Lanchester.

The SCHOOL was planned to include the most recent developments in education, the Architect produced a design which is a judicious blend of the brightness and vigour of the modern with the sturdiness of the traditional. The Contractors have done full justice to the plan, and the modern equipment and tasteful furniture supplied by the County Authority complete the picture of what, in the changing scene of education, must for a little while, at least, pass as the "latest".

The Staff - a blend of youth and experience - bring enthusiasm and high qualifications to the task of infusing the love of God and man, and zest for fruitful living, into the young people for whom great sacrifices have been made, and of whom great things are expected. May God's Blessing be with them.

The Chemistry Laboratory

The Library

The Kitchen

The Technical Drawing Room

THE GRAMMAR TECHNICAL SCHOOL

In the mind of the public in general, and of parents in particular, the term 'Grammar School' means something with which they are familiar, and which is held in considerable esteem. However the expression 'Grammar Technical School' is encountered, some people are inclined to speculate rather uneasily, What are these Educationists up to now? It is therefore worth emphasising that the Grammar Technical School does not represent any lowering of traditional standards; all of our new entrants have to pass the County Grading Examination, and the curriculum includes all the customary Grammar School subjects, together with others which do not normally feature in the latter's timetable.

The distinguishing characteristics of these additional subjects are twofold. First, they bear a positive relation to that part of the child's experience which is encountered out of school, whether in the home, in Industry or Commerce; and secondly, they are subjects which involve both thought and action, and which demand a degree of co-ordination between mind and body for their execution. It is not a question of developing skill, or imparting training; this is not the business of a school - the practical subjects are chosen first and foremost for their educational value.

True education consists of leading the children in such a way as to enable them to realise their potentialities in the fullest possible manner, and to be successful in this we must take into account the nature of the human beings with whom we are concerned. The Christian teacher knows that his charges have a body and a soul, and it follows that the appeal which is most likely to succeed is one which bears this in mind. We are all aware, at times regretfully, that children have stores of energy, constantly demanding an outlet.

A good school is a happy school, and much schoolday unhappiness can be traced to boredom, when the academic appeal to the mind is not adequately balanced by corresponding demands on the bodily energies. In the Woodwork Room, the Housecraft Room, the Technical Drawing Room, our children find a means of exercising their bodies as well as their heads. More than this: many a child will there discover some unsuspected facility, some little talent which may well go on to establish him or her as a person of some account, and on which an integrated school life may develop.

Our children are taught to love their Heavenly Father, and, for His sake, their neighbour, by prayer, the exercise of the mind and heart. Parallel with this, in the Crafts they encounter a medium, be it clay or metal, and from it learn something of their own powers, and limitations, in regard to Almighty God's creation. In short, they may learn respect, which is an essential part of love, from the inanimate materials with which they work, extending to their companions, their families. "If God so clothe the grass of the field. . ." May we not imagine that the Centre of the Holy Family, Our Blessed Lord, would have something similar to say about the wood which was worked so patiently by His foster-father, our patron, the Blessed Joseph?

A Woodwork Class

The Dining Hall

The Housecraft Room

The Assembly Hall

ARCHITECT'S DESCRIPTION

CONTRACTORS AND CONSULTANTS

THE MAIN SUB-CONTRACTORS