Wheatley Street School

The school was also used by the Art college, circa 1968, after Ford St closed. It was on a temp basis before it moved again up to an old school off the A45 near the Baginton roundabout.

Does anybody remember Wheatley Street Nursery? I think I attended up to the age of four, so circa 1978-1980. The entrance was on Wheatley Street. I remember the playground very well, and classes were in a mobile classroom where I learnt to write my name. We hung our coats and had school dinners in a much older, echoey building that was opposite the mobile classroom. I remember having the mumps and going to the nurse's room in that older building. Also, looking in anticipation at the crates of small milk bottles we were given with a straw every morning.

the car reg is 1965

Hi all, have just discovered this web page and wish to share some memories I have of Wheatley Street School for Girls where I was a pupil from 1942 - 1946. I have a number of memories of teachers, pupils, buildings etc and would be happy to share them if anyone is interested.

Welcome to our forum Watson 1942 I'm sure we would all be interested to share your memories of your time there

Our school, Caludon Castle, used Wheatley St. school as a bike park when we attended a consecration service at the new cathedral in 1962. I always supposed I had attended THE consecration but I now realise that we simply attended one of many for the various schools.

Birds eye view from the Britain from above website 1937

Hi, well you asked for it. I had to travel to school via a no 8 bus and therefore used the entrance on Ford Street. After going through the front door, you went up one flight of stairs to the cloakrooms then on to the floor on which Wheatley Street Central Advanced School for girls was located. There was a large open square from which the classrooms were located. The building to the right of the front entrance was where pupils were taught cookery and the building next door to the then Alexandra Cinema (now Theatre One) was a two story building. The lower floor was used by the boys of john Gulson School for Woodwork etc and the upper floor was the science labs for the girls used for Biology and Human Biology lessons. The buildings to the right side of the school building were a toilet block next door to a one story building used by the girls for laundry etc. This has been all about the buildings, I can go on and on about actually being a pupil at this school, but maybe this could be enough of an epistle for now?

I think the Wheatley Street School must have had multiple and concurrent users in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I remember part of the site was used by the Local Education Authority for teaching Asian children who were refugees from Kenya and Uganda (my mother was an English teacher there between 1968 and 1970). The part of the site used for teaching the refugees was called 'The Priory Centre'. There was also a nursery that I believe was housed in a different part of Wheatley Street School. I attended the nursery between 1968 and 1970 and at this stage it wasn't housed in the 'temporary buildings' that a later 'inmate' has recalled elsewhere in this thread. I remember the ring road was under construction when I was at the nursery and the nursery playground dissolved into a building site (I recall being able to walk through the 'playground' and 'building site' to the subway that now leads from what was the White Street coach park to Pool Meadow).

Hello & welcome to out forum, Sherlock 65 Thank you for your post.

I worked in the kitchen of the nursery, loved every min. of it, some of the children use to come in and talk to us.. The head mistress was Miss Davis. This would have been about 1974 ish

As it happens my wife was searching the Coventry Graphic last Saturday at the Coventry archives. She was looking for photographs of Bedworth Schools who had contributed to the war effort. One of the sheets she came back with was this page about Belgian children in Coventry in September 1915. As with all Graphic images it is very dark. I'll look through some log books for mention of some of the children. May take a little while as we are opening a new exhibition at Bedworth Heritage Centre tomorrow. (Spotlight on Keresley). I was going to put it in the Wheatley Street topic, but this is far better.

At the time of this episode, Miss Selina Dix was the headmistress of the girls' school. A potted biography of this remarkable lady can be found on the list of those earning Coventrian status elsewhere on this website.

Thanks for that Charabanc. I've always wondered who Selina Dix House was named after and now I know!