Friends Reunited

Laughter and fond recollection filled the room - engrossed conversations across generations. The ages of those present spanned six or seven decades. But what connected them, crossed the age divide easily.

School days are the best of our lives, they say. The evening proved that they are certainly the most vividly recalled.

The occasion was a gathering of the School’s old boys. All of those in the room were connected by their association with Newcastle School for Boys although when it comes to alumni, this requires a little explanation.

Given the School’s relatively recent formation in 2005 and the opening of its sixth form in 2009, the School’s oldest alumni left that sixth form in 2011. They are still only now in their mid-twenties.

But that is to overlook history and its influence on Newcastle School for Boys. The School was formed out of the merger of its two predecessor schools: Ascham House and Newlands – both long established boys’ prep schools each with their own proud traditions and no small amount of local rivalry.

Given the economic downturn in 2008, the vision of the two schools’ governing bodies and head teachers to combine the two schools was a prescient one.

Both were represented in the room: Christopher Rippon, the chair of governors from Newlands at the time of the merger; and Phil Garner, the former head of Ascham House and the founding head of Newcastle School for Boys.

As anybody involved in, or even close to, a school merger – there have been two others involving local independent schools since 2005 – will testify, the joining of two educational entities, two business operations and two identities is not always straightforward.

One of the refreshing things about Newcastle School for Boys is its freedom from the tyranny of the past – a modern outlook unfettered by the shackling inertia of ‘it’s always been done that way’. It is equally validating to be part of a tradition, of something larger, more enduring than just our own history contained in the twenty-first century.

We are proud to embrace our school’s origins in Ascham House and Newlands schools. These origins are preserved in the names of our houses that facilitate so much of the School’s delivery of its aims, particularly in developing boys and young men of excellent character.

The School’s other two houses are named Aldridge and Mavor. Mark Aldridge, during his 52-year association with Ascham House, was its head from 1951 to 1977. He died in 2012 generously bequeathing the site at North Avenue to Newcastle School for Boys.

Michael Mavor, who died in 2010, was a Newlands governor whose legacy had previously been acknowledged in a building at The Grove named after him. Mavor has been described as ‘a dynamic and energising headmaster who, throughout the course of a distinguished career, led three of Britain’s foremost schools – Gordonstoun, Rugby and Loretto.’

As Newcastle School for Boys continues to grow, we are keen to continue to build our old boys’ association as a valuable part of and extension to the School’s community. In doing so, we are proud to embrace the traditions of our predecessor schools: Ascham House and Newlands.