Coventry Technical College

I'm sure I read on here that the Herbert has the old newspaper archives, as they use to be in the Library the old Locarno years ago.

The pub we used was definitely The Summerland (currently called The Butts Retreat), we tried the Union Arms and were not impressed with its facilities although as you say loads of students obviously were.

Yes I did two years under Knocker West and was only identified once by Ned Sparks and sent out of the morning assembly to visit him (one of the best) 1944/46

It looks fabulous inside. I believe this development consists of a lot of retail/restaurant units - I saw a map of them. There are some on the side of the new office building and the college to create a mini-mall type of thing. Shame the post deconstruction has left the area in a little bit of a disjointed mess.

I believe at one time a technical school was located behind the college building. I wonder if anyone KNOWS what 11 plus results were required to enter a technical school as distinct from a grammar school? Did parental choice have any influence? I have just ploughed thru' this thread and found the following re the headmaster in the 1940's/50's - "(under the headship) of that great humanitarian headmaster 'Knocker' West" Is this an example of the world famous Coventry sense of humour?

Opening of the College by The Duke Of York 1935 Clip is 2 mins 14 secs in

That would be a great venue for gigs. Something this city needs!

WHY?

I too would like to know what 11plus results were required for 'Tech' though they must have been in-between Secondary School and Grammar School. I passed for Tech but not high enough for Bablake. I imagine socio-economic grouping had part of the selection because my elder brother and cousin both were at Tech before me. Yes, Knocker West was a good headmaster. My memory is that all the teaching staff had degrees because they wore their gowns and hoods at Assembly or on Speech Day.

Hi all I am mystified by this too. There used to be a "Pre-Tech" exam for pupils leaving school at age fifteen, which included four elements. Maths, English, basic science & technical drawing, I believe.

Here you go, 1 Pre-Tech certificate.

Hi & thank you scrutiny Brill, brill & brill. Some standards have kite or star rating. We have our own Brill rating. Seriously though, a certificate to be proud of.

I am posting this, by way of showing my appreciation for the chance which Night School at the Technical College in the Butts for ONC Building offered and for HNC Building at the Old Lanchester College I was pretty useless at Seconday Education and only got 3 "O" levels, possibly having missed out from a lot of early education due to hospitalisation and a disproportionate love of cricket and rugby football. To cut a long story short, I went away to sea for 10 years as a purser, met my wife to be and gave up that career (to be quite honest I was enjoying life too much and felt I should return to the `real` world.) I joined the Surveyor`s dept of a building firm, part of the deal being I learned something about the trade. So to Night School I went. ONC Technical Drawing and construction, Mr. Parker Maths, Mr. Rathbone Building Science, Mr. Alan Heal Accounts? The teaching was excellent and the course was free (don`t know if my company paid!) HNC - similar results. I am profoundly grateful for that help. I hope similar opportunity still exists for present day dropouts and late developers.

Hello Roger Hi all Thank you for your posts. Three O levels was no mean achievement. The current GCSE's were the replacement of O levels, because so many youngsters (the majority) left school with nothing. GCSE's provided employers with a measuring stick by which to measure a greater number of school leavers, who had not reached an O level standard. I was very glad of the O level re-take facility in the November following that years results. That has now just been taken away which does give me serious concern, just as it does you.