Ex-pupils honouring 'magical' first comprehensive

It was one of the first comprehensive schools to open in England in 1956 - and when it was demolished less than 50 years later, pupils and teachers held each other and cried.

Now a band of former students from Churchfields School in West Bromwich have come together to remember it with a statue.

To them, Churchfields was far more than a place of learning.

Breaking boundaries and stereotypes, the school drew its blended student population from the English, Indian, African and Caribbean communities that surrounded it.

And according to its alumni, it was magical.

“We had some really good times," says Sandra Meredith-Batchelor, who came up with the idea for the statue.

"We had some brilliant teachers - I mean, they’re absolute legends. All through the years the school was open."

Another ex-pupil, Andrew Watson, agrees.

"We loved our teachers, but it was also the camaraderie of the pupils. Kids came from all backgrounds," he says.

“Great Barr – so they were the posh ones. If you came from Friar Park you may have well have had a sign on you that said ‘I’m going to be trouble’.

"And then we had loads of kids from Beeches Road in West Bromwich and that was where a lot of the Afro Caribbean families lived.

"It really was something special."

Hundreds of former pupils are members of the Facebook group Forever Churchfields, and it was there the idea was born to remember it with a sculpture.

They began fundraising and roped in Black Country sculptor Luke Perry to create a wise old owl in the school's honour.

It's called The Last Flight - a large metal owl which was unveiled this week at RSPB Sandwell Valley Nature Reserve.

He has been named Harry, after one of the school's headmasters Harry Chalton MBE.

“He's a really special teacher,” says Sandra, who adds he was instrumental in helping her write a book about Churchfields.

“When 3,000 people have a question for me and I have to send him an email and say, ‘sir, sir, can you answer this?’

"He’s always our lives, even now.”

The sculpture was unveiled by two former teachers – Kevin Stockley, one of the most popular members of staff and Bill Whitehead, the legendary chemistry teacher who was apparently notorious for blowing things up.

Frank Batchelor, another former pupil and now married to Sandra, said the school produced many exceptional people in a variety of fields over the years.

“It was the first comprehensive school in the borough – West Bromwich as it was then, before Sandwell. It had a long, long life," he said.

“When we found out the school was being closed and subsequently demolished, that’s when Sandra and I started to take more of an interest."

The school was knocked down in 2001, for housing that overlooks Sandwell Valley.

Luke Perry is known for his monumental sculptures across the Black Country.

They include two in Smethwick - Lions of the Great War, a war memorial dedicated to the memory of Sikh soldiers in World War One and The Strength of the Hijab - the first sculpture of a woman wearing the tradition Muslim headscarf.

Sandra said Churchfields had its own bird sculpture at the time and the one created by Mr Perry was a nod to it.

He said they came up with an idea of an owl because “owls are historically, way back to the Greek times, associated with learning”.

“We regularly meet up with the people in our year where we used to live locally anyway and grew up together and went to Churchfields together,” she said.

“We just all loved the school, it was a magical time in the 60s. So when we meet up, it’s all about the old times, it’s all about the 60s.”

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