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St. Mary's Roman Catholic School
Whickham acquired its first Catholic School in 1972. Catholic education in Whickham began in the house of Mr and Mrs McWilliams in Eleanor Terrace. Father Walsh came from Dunston to instruct the pupils of the County School (Front St.) Catholic Schools existed at Byermoor, Dunston and Blaydon. When Father Pickering founded the Whickham Parish in 1948 it was with the intention of founding a school also. Negotiations were begun which were not completed till 1970, when the then Minister for Education, the Rt Hon Edward Short, MP, instructed Miss Alice Bacon (Parliamentary Secretary to the Department of Education and Science) to inform the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle that the new Whickham R.C. School had been accepted and placed on the "Design List".
Work was entitled to begin on April 1st 1970, but there were more snags, including the death of the quantity surveyor, financial difficulties for the appointed building company, the death of the architect in charge of the project and the departure from the firm of his deputy architect. However, a new architect and building firm were appointed and the project was given a kick-start. From then the work proceeded fairly smoothly with excellent co-operation between the builders and the headmaster, Mr Leo Mason, culminating in the opening on April 10th 1972.
The new school was "Open-Plan" with seven teaching areas, 3 for the Infants and 4 for the Juniors. 74 children attended the school, but it was expected that this number would rise to 250. The school has its own kitchen adjoining the hall. In the grounds there was an "Adventure Playground" a lovely field and an adventure area. Future plans included grassing the front entrance grounds at the top end, putting a rockery around the school's frontage and separating the car park from the children's entrance with a flagged and grassed centre-piece.
St Mary's Head Teachers
Mr Leo Mason 1972 - 1985 (Dec)
Mr Arthur Burke 1986 (Jan) -