Culcheth Hall School to close
Culcheth Hall School
It has recently been announced on the MEN website that letters were sent out on Friday (March 25) informing parents of the governors decision to close Culcheth Hall School on Ashley Road in Altrincham.
The 120-year-old school for pupils aged three to 16-years-old has seen pupil numbers decline in recent years and there are now only 120 pupils across all year groups.
The school which was rated excellent last month by the Independent School Inspectorate will close at the end of the academic year.
The article continued to report that Headmaster Alistair Todd said: “The school numbers had become to small to be viable.
“At the end of the day we are a fee paying school and fees pay the salaries and staff and keep the school going. We were not making money and needed to make changes.
“Until the end of the summer term it will be business as usual. We have a full timetable and activities for 120 girls to teach them and we intend to continue doing this.”
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ATL to seek payout for staff losing their jobs when Culcheth Hall School, Greater Manchester, closes
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is seeking a payout for six staff members who will lose their jobs when Culcheth Hall Senior School in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, closes at the end of this summer term after 120 years.
Culcheth Hall School is an independent school for girls aged 3 to 16.
The senior school is due to close at the end of the summer term with the loss of around 18 jobs, but the prep school has been saved by a merger with Bowdon Preparatory School for girls, which is also in Altrincham.
Christine Barnett, ATL regional official for Manchester, said: “It is desperately sad that the senior school is closing. Staff and pupils will be devastated. We are pleased that at least the prep school has been saved.
“ATL will do all it can to make sure its members get any pay and redundancy payments to which they are entitled, and will help them if they need to find other jobs.
“And we will ensure that ATL members who are transferred from the prep school to Bowdon prep have their employment rights safeguarded when the two merge in September.”
This school must surely be rather more than 120 years’ old, more like 140 in fact, at least. How do I know? Because I came across it quite by chance when searching for someone in the census of 1871 who turned out to be a pupil there. For family historians who have access to the 1871 census at Findmypast or Ancestry, it can be found at reference: RG10 Piece 3683, folio 147, page 10, Altrincham registration district, address Ashley Rd, Culcheth Hall, Bowdon. Unless it was then in a different building, which seems unlikely. The head mistress was one ELIZA M WILLIAMSON, aged 63, born in London, Middlesex, and there were eight other members of staff, including a housekeeper, and 46 pupils.
The person I was looking for was one EMMA M ROW, aged 16, born at Wansford, Northants, who was a pupil at the school in 1871. Why was I seeking her? Because by her second marriage (as a young widow) to one HAMNET HYDE CLARKE at Newport, Shropshire, in 1882, she became a great-great-grandmother to SEBASTIAN COE (Lord Coe). Also at the school in 1871 was FRANCES HYDE CLARKE, 17, born at Hyde, Cheshire, who was Hamnet Hyde Clarke’s sister. Obviously, the two girls became firm friends and Emma ended up marrying her schoolfriend’s brother. They couldn’t possibly have known then, could they that, over 100 years on, the marriage would produce a double Olympic gold medallist and one of our greatest ever athletes?