Gathering Storm Clouds

By the mid to late 1920s it became evident that the school site, enclosed in a corner between a busy main road and railway, was unsuitable and likely to become even more so with the great increase in road traffic.

The building was actually condemned by HM Inspectors but, due to the gathering storm clouds of another war in Europe, nothing was done until 1945 when Governors bought the Priory Estate as the future home of a new Camp Hill School.

The school’s new headmistress, Miss Muriel Mandeville, had already joined the school on the retirement of the long-serving and very appropriately named Miss Keen after 30 years.

Miss Keen was praised for her devotion to the work and spirit of the school, especially during the early years of the war when the school was twice evacuated and later brought back into operation in two sections some 20 miles apart!

She was certainly far ahead of her time with her ideas on the education of girls.

A tribute paid to her said: “She was primarily responsible for modernising the school on the academic side. By the end of her time, school was working to School Certificate in Higher Education, sending girls to university and in due season they began to take Firsts. Yet she never allowed to regard examinations as an end in themselves and took the liveliest interest in games and everything else.”

Under the new leadership of Miss Mandeville (1943-1962), the school was brought back together although great problems had to be overcome, with war damaged buildings, planning for the new school, and a rapid increase in school numbers.

The years between 1943 and the move to a new school in 1958 saw increasing overcrowding and the appropriation of more space for school use.

Numbers grew from just 340 girls in 1943 to 550 in 1957 but the waiting ended in 1958 when the move to the present school site in Kings Heath, Birmingham, took place.

During her almost 20 years as headmistress, the school had owed much to her guidance.

When Miss Joan Miller (1963- 1978) became headmistress she was no stranger, as a former member of staff at King Edward’s in nearby Handsworth. She had a genius for winning the technical and financial aids the school needed at the time.

An able administrator, she kept the school at the forefront of modern development. During a period of financial stringency and the curtailment of building schemes, she instigated extensions to a school building only nine years old.

Part of an appreciation of Miss Miller stated: “Her wide and progressive outlook was soon reflected in the widening of the curriculum, the encouragement of experimental courses and methods and the provision of improved conditions and equipment to allow staff and girls to work to best advantage. The Sixth Form inparticular expanded under her leadership and another project she had very much at heart was the building of a swimming pool in the school grounds (available from 1972).”

Miss Anne Percival (1979 – 1992) was educated at the King Edward VII Grammar School in Coalville, and intended to become an industrial librarian after graduating in Physics from the University of Birmingham.

But she chose teaching instead and taught physics for 20 years at the King Edward VI High School for Girls, for much of the time as Second Mistress.

Miss Percival led Camp Hill into the technological age, introducing more computer-based work, and increasing co-operation between Camp Hill Girls School and the Boys’ School next door, especially at Sixth Form level.

The economic climate of the 80s, with trade depression, restrictions on public expenditure and high unemployment, and the problems caused by declining child populations, inevitably imposed some agonising decisions on her as an administrator.

Additionally, political prejudices against grammar schools (still a factor today) added extra pressures.

In her safe tenure, the school celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Mrs Joan Fisher (1992 - 2003) was a former grammar school girl.

She recognised that the school had to move forward to reflect changes in society and several physical changes took place such as modernising the schools changing rooms and renovating the Sixth Form block.

Mrs Fisher was proud to develop the school’s friendly atmosphere and one of the most rewarding comments from an Ofsted report at that time stated that: “the harmonious ethos of the school is a significant factor to its success”.

Mrs Dru James (from January 2004), the former head of Wolverhampton Girls’ High School, is already settled and has new plans underway for Camp Hill, including a new Sports Hall and an application for specialist school status.

In fact, the school may soon become Camp Hill Maths and Computing College.

Proof, if any were needed, that history never ends.

Next in this section: Key School Dates