"Published on Wednesday 1 February 2006 16:04 IMAGINE being the headteacher of an well-established boarding school and being told without warning one day that you had to shut the entire school down with immediate affect. This is the dilemma that acting headteacher, Rosemary Cuff faced a year ago next month when a surprise helicopter landing brought with it the news that St Elphin's School in Darley Dale was to close – that very day. Now, as a special service is being held to mark the end of the school's life, she has revealed what really went on in those dark days last year. Rosemary explained: "I had spoken to the proprietors (of the school) a little bit before that day because there had been problems, such as the heating had been turned off, but we didn't expect to meet them like that. "When they arrived by helicopter last March they announced that the school would be closing as it was no longer financially viable." At the time of the surprise visit, there were pupils actually sitting a GCSE practical art exam and other girls whose parents lived as far away as Hong Kong and Dubai, who could not be expected to collect their offspring that day. Rosemary said: "What do we do with these children was my first thought, it was just such a shock. "We had a stormy meeting that afternoon which went on into the evening with the proprietors and I managed to persuade them to keep the school open until the Friday, although no-one would get paid. "The news came as a great shock to everyone at the school. Many exams had to be rescheduled, parents both near and far had to be contacted, and places for the children and staff had to be found in the space of three days. "We had parents in tears, it was like a bereavement for everyone, especially for the boarders who lived at the school. "The school was like a small family community within itself, everybody knew each other. The cooks knew which children liked eating what, it was very intimate." The turbulent stage in the school's history started in April 2003 when the school went into administration with debts of 3 million. In October a rescue bid to save the school was announced with plans to build 100 houses in two parcels of land on school grounds. But permission was refused by Derbyshire Dales District Council because they said the project contravened the local plan to protect open spaces between Darley Dale and Matlock. Then in March 2004 a scaled-down version of the plan was announced. But that was turned down by a vote of 13-4 against and St Elphin's was put up for sale. In June that year the school was bought for 2.4 million by a company described as 'a group of local businessmen who wanted to remain anonymous'. Planning inspector David Smith was called in to adjudicate over an appeal application to build on the school grounds in December. The landowners argued that a housing development was the only realistic way to safeguard the school's future, but they lost their appeal and on March 11 St Elphin's closed. A total of 175 students had to relocate and 75 people had to find new jobs. In June 2005, Audley Court, a company that specialises in developing retirement homes acquired the site. They plan to build around 130 new homes on the site and the existing school building will be transformed into a clubhouse, but they have yet to get planning permission. Now, one year on since the school's closure the Old Elphinian's are getting together to celebrate what the school meant to so many people. The service will take place in Warrington where the school was originally founded in the parish church of St Elphin in 1844. Rosemary said: "Such a lot of people had happy memories of the school even though it ended so terribly and abruptly. The Old Elphinian's thought it would be nice to have a service." Former pupils will be singing in the choir at the service and a previous music teacher will play the organ. After the service a time capsule will be buried outside the church. Rosemary said the capsule had been created by students when the school was still open and contained objects to reflect the time such as model skate-boards and current photos of pupils in their uniform. A coach will be travelling from Matlock to the service in Warrington on March, 11. Anyone who would like to travel on it should call 01246 233475 or 01629 582414 if they would like to attend the event."
Reprinted by kind permission of Matlock Mercury |
|