Established | 1705 |
---|---|
Type | Independent day school |
Religion | Church of England |
Principal | Dr John Hind |
Head of Junior School | Andrew Edge |
Vice-Principals | Alan Hopper Natalie Shaw |
Founder | Dame Eleanor Allan |
Location |
Fowberry Crescent Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 9YJ United Kingdom |
Local authority | Newcastle upon Tyne |
Students | approx. 920 |
Gender | Coeducational; single-sex (Senior School) |
Ages | 3–18 |
Colours | |
Former pupils | Old Allanians |
Website | www.dameallans.co.uk |
Dame Allan's Schools is a collection of Independent schools in Fenham, in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It comprises a coeducational junior school, single-sex senior schools and a coeducational sixth form. Founded in 1705 as a charity, the original schools are two of the oldest schools in the city.
They were founded by Dame Eleanor Allan, the daughter of a local goldsmith and the widow of a tobacco merchant, to provide a proper education for "40 poor boys and 20 poor girls of the parishes of St Nicholas and St John". The schools were endowed with land at Wallsend, to the east of Newcastle. The original school seems likely to have been near St Nicholas' Church, and certainly was by 1778. The schools occupied at least six sites before they moved to the present site in Fenham, in 1935. The senior schools have shared the current site since 1935, but until 1988 they operated as separate boys' and girls' schools with a joint governing body. The governors then took the decision to appoint a principal with overall responsibility for the management of the two schools. At the same time, they created a joint mixed sixth form and reintroduced a mixed junior school.
The plural, "schools", refers to the fact that Dame Allan's operates in a diamond format. In effect, Dame Allan's consists of 4 different schools: the co-educational Junior school for nursery to Year 6 are located in a separate building in Spital Tongues; the single sex boys' and girls' schools for years 7 to 11; and the co-educational sixth form (years 12 to 13).
A number of new classrooms were built between 2004 and 2005 to replace older facilities, with some intended specifically for the sixth form centre. The Sixth Form Centre was opened by the Queen of England during an official visit on 14 October 2005 and was named the Queen's Building.
In 2007 refurbishment of existing buildings continued with a new library, Computer Resource Centre and ICT teaching rooms. These rooms are now spacious modern teaching areas, which are available to students during break, lunch and after school. 2008 saw the opening of the all-weather pitch and new tennis courts which have been constructed on the existing areas on the Fowberry Crescent site and the redevelopment of the entrance area of the schools.