Holly Lodge Girls' College (simply referred to as Holly Lodge and formerly Holly Lodge Girls' School) is an 11–18 girls, communitysecondary school and sixth form in West Derby, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was established in 1922.
History
Holly Lodge Girls' College was established in 1922[3] where it was built as Holly Lodge Girls' School on Queens Drive. The school was evacuated to Denbigh during the Second World War,[4] and was a centre for children to sit the eleven-plus in the 1940s and 1950s.[5][6] In the 1970s, the school became Holly Lodge Comprehensive School, with the addition of the site at Bankfield, following the closure of Bankfield Secondary Modern School.[7][8]
In 1977, there was a row over school catchment areas, with parents protesting that their daughters had not been offered places at the school.[9] A local resident said that the problem with children not being offered places at Holly Lodge happened every year.[10] In 1980, the head said that the A-level pass rate was 66% and the sixth form was open access.[11]
In 1984, the city council, then controlled by Militant, proposed closing the school or merging it with West Derby Boys' School.[12][13] This was part of a "controversial schools reorganisation programme".[14][15]Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Education, intervened and said the school must stay open.[12] Joseph is described as having "saved" the school.[16][17] The capacity of the school was reduced, however.[12][17][18] The following year parents said that the council was trying to make it appear that the school was under capacity.[19]
In 1994, the school made an animated video promoting non-smoking, which was used nationally.[20] In 1997, the school was part of a pilot scheme of after-school clubs to help children with homework.[21] In the 1990s, the school was said to have "an art department with a national reputation for excellence".[22] The school ran adult education classes, also open to pupils aged 16+, with a nude model.[23]
It was originally in the Stoneycroft area of the city, but a new building was constructed in West Derby in 2015 to replace the older Victorian and 1930s buildings.[27][28]
Curriculum
Holly Lodge Girls' College offers GCSEs, BTECs and NVQs as programmes of study for pupils,[29] while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of A-levels and further BTECs.[30]
Inspections
As of 2023[update], the school's most recent inspection by Ofsted was in 2019, with a judgement of Good.[31]
Headteachers
The first principal was Agnes Drummond, who was still in post in 1945.[32][33]
In 1976, the headteacher was Winifred Chisholm.[34]
^"School history". Liverpool Echo. 1 January 1992. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. This year, Holly Lodge Comprehensive School in Liverpool will celebrate its 70th birthday
^"HOME TRIP OF JUNIOR EVACUEES". Liverpool Evening Express. 20 February 1940. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Two hundred junior evacuees left Denbigh for Liverpool ... The departure was supervised by Miss Drummond, headmistress of Holly Lodge School, who said: "We have all had a marvellous time, and the townspeople have been exceptionally kind to us."
^"City of Liverpool Local Education Authority". Liverpool Daily Post. 28 January 1975. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. the City Council ... proposes to cease to maintain BANKFIELD COUNTY SECONDARY MODERN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, situated in Green Lane, Liverpool 13, and to make a significant change in the character of the HOLLY LODGE COUNTY SECONDARY HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, situated in Queens Drive, Liverpool 13, by ceasing to admit pupils based on ability, and to make a significant enlargement of the said HOLLY LODGE COUNTY SECONDARY HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, so as to form HOLLY LODGE COUNTY SECONDARY COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL, which would provide education, making use of the sites and existing premises of the two above-mentioned schools, for about 1,250 girls between the ages of 11 and 18 of all ability ranges ... The School would admit eight form-entries (240 girls) of all ability ranges annually. It is intended that girls in the first and second years would be accommodated in the Bankfield building. The Authority intends to concentrate the School on the Holly Lodge site as soon as additional school buildings can be provided for that purpose
^"Parents battle for share plan". Maghull & Aintree Star. No. 19 August 1993. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Liverpool education officers want to base Holly Lodge School at Queen's Drive and sell the school's Bankfield site which they say is surplus to educational requirements
^Sanders, Dorothy (21 September 1977). "End these years of dispute and despair". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Every year at least 10 families in this area of Tuebrook fight to get places for their daughters at the local comprehensive school, and this fight has been going on each year, for at least five years, ever since the boundaries for the local comprehensive school were changed ... The Education Department and the local government offices have been inundated with angry parents year in and year out, and all they say is that things cannot be changed overnight, and that parents must be patient. Last year, atter a great deal of pressure, all the disputed families got the places they deserved for their daughters at Holly Lodge Comprehensive School
^ abcPine, David (26 July 1984). "Anger at threat to single-sex schools". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Labour decided to halve the intake pupils to the only two single sex schools likely to remain in the city. Now only a fraction of hopeful pupils will win places at the schools ... Education secretary Sir Keith Joseph earlier this summer accepted Labour's controversial plan to reduce 27 secondary schools to 18 community com-prehensives but ordered that Holly Lodge Girls School and West Derby Boys School should stay ... Under Labour's original plan Holly Lodge and West Derby boys schools were to have merged
^"Keep Tuebrook people in touch". Liverpool Echo. 3 May 1993. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Years ago when the Labour council proposed to shut Holly Lodge School, the parents appealed and obtained total support from the community to save the school. Now it appears that the council in conjunction with the school governors are seeking government funds to spend £400,000 putting the school on one site
^Bunker, Nick (30 October 1984). "Joseph in new school storm". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Sir Keith ... told the council they could go ahead with the scheme to reduce secondary schools to 18 community comprehensives provided they keep Holly Lodge Girls' and West Derby Boys' as singlesex schools. But Mrs. Pat Brooke of the Liverpool Parents' Action Committee who led yesterday's delegation, said the minister never agreed to the council cutting numbers at Holly Lodge. She said Sir Keith promised to do "all in his power" to get the council to reconsider
^Clein, Paul (18 March 1993). "Women's rights". Maghull & Aintree Star. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. How ironic and hypocritical to see Margaret Beckett Labour's Deputy visiting Holly Lodge Girls School on International Womens Day as featured in your edition. Why so? In 1985 the Labour Council in Liverpool tried to close this school down and it was only the intervention of Sir Keith Joseph which stopped it
^"Parents come out fighting". Liverpool Echo. 13 February 1985. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Sir Keith's observations concerning two other city schools, Holly Lodge School (Girls) and West Derby (Boys), which he has saved as single-sex schools
^ ab"Joseph backs city schools' re-shuffle". Liverpool Echo. 6 August 1984. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Holly Lodge girls' school and West Derby boys' school, have been saved, on the recommendation of the Education secretary, but have been reduced in size by the Council
^Williams, Hazel (2 March 1989). "The Liverpool Conversation: Schools". Maghull & Aintree Star. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Our single-sex schools Holly Lodge (girls) and West Derby (boys) were reduced in form entry size during the last Labour schools re-organisation
^"Parents fury at underused schools". Liverpool Daily Post. 1 July 1985. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. The committee claims there are 55 places left at West Derby Boys School and 68 places at Holly Lodge Girls School even though children are being refuse entry to the schools ... allegations that the council has deliberately kept the two schools short of pupils
^"School hires nude model". Western Evening Herald. 28 November 1994. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. The school wrote to all parents telling them about the extra-curricula classes which are open to 16-year-old students and adults. Teacher Gill Dunne said: "To be honest after the initial shock subsides you might as well be painting a bowl of fruit"
^Wainwright, Martin (15 October 2002). "When art becomes a Fact". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
^Whitfield, George (16 April 1945). "MEN LIKE BEAUTY: CATCHING UP WITH EVE IN LOVE OF ART". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. the forthcoming presentation portrait of Miss Drummond, lent by Holly Lodge School, of which she is principal. Here we have a Scotswoman in all the glory of her Scottish character, against a reserved but colourful background of books, as alive and vivid as could be