Gilberd School Logs 1967-1985

Regular visitors to this site will know that one of the things Eddie and I have tried to do is to ensure as much school history as possible is in the public domain.

I’m delighted to say an important piece of that history is now available for the very first time. Starting in 1967 with Mr Glazier, successive headmasters kept a log recording information about important events at the school. These logs detail everything from school trips, plays, discos and protests to staff appointments and resignations. They are essentially a record of school life between 1967-1985.

You can read and download PDF copies of all the school logs here.

The logs were never intended for public consumption so they needed to be thoroughly reviewed prior to publication. We owe James Mitchell (Head of School) and Jodee Tinman our thanks for reviewing the content and signing off the redacted logs on behalf of the Gilberd. Without the co-operation of James and Jodee it would simply not have been possible to publish these documents.

Regarding the redactions, for the most part these relate to confidential details about the health and wellbeing of staff and students. A small number of further redactions have been made to to protect the guilty!

The first entires in 1967 record the appointment of the new headmaster, Mr Glazier, and the departure of of the school’s long-serving head, Mr Sprason. The logs conclude in August 1985 with Mr Rowe and Mrs Rees surrounded by boxes at the North Hill site as they oversaw the removal of equipment and furniture to High Woods. Mr Rowe noted that it was ‘an activity thwart with problems’.

Many past pupils will probably be most interested in the period when they attended the school.  For those who fancy a trawl through all eighteen years of school history you’ll discover:

• Which teacher was a member of the British Olympic Team in Mexico in 1968.
• What happened when 'pupil power' came to the Gilberd in 1972 and how order was restored.
• How the school coped with no gas supplies in 1973 and an oil shortage in 1974.
• What happened when a group of ‘outsiders’ tried to gain admission to a Middle School Dance in 1974.
• Which lucky teacher led a party of Lower Sixth students on a 14 day ‘educational’ cruise to the Canary Islands!
• What happened when a group of 20 third and fourth year pupils took an unofficial day off to go to Walton in 1974.
• Why a party of French students visiting the school in 1978 had to be asked to leave.
• What the headmaster thought of the Sixth Form Dance at the Andromeda in 1975.

Sadly the practice of keeping a log ceased in 1985 but these logs conclude a long, uninterrupted line of documents that tell the story of the life and development of the school:

• You can download a complete set of issues of ‘The Raven’ and ‘The Gilberdian’ from 1951-1967 here.
• Copies of the school magazine ‘Image’ from 1968 and 1969 can be found here. 
• You will also find a selection of bulletins and letters from the 1970s here. 

If you attended the school between 1951 and 1985 you will now find plenty of information on the website about your time there.