Ancestry UK

Springhead Park School for Girls, Rothwell, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire

On April 16th, 1962, the Springhead Park Approved School for Intermediate Girls was certified to operate in premises at Park Lane, Rothwell, near Leeds. The official opening was performed by Her Royal Highness Princess Marina. The School was run by the National Association for Mental Health (known as MIND from 1971).

The Park Lane premises — a former vicarage with modern extensions — could accommodate 24 girls, aged between their 14th and 16th birthdays at their date of entry. The School provided domestic training and instruction in gardening. The establishment also had facilities for the treatment of venereal disease.

Former Springhead Park School for Girls, Rothwell, 2013. © Peter Higginbotham

Former Springhead Park School for Girls, Rothwell, 2013. © Peter Higginbotham

In 1973, the School became a Community Home with Education (CHE) run in conjunction with the West Yorkshire County Council.

Because its management believed that change in its inmates could be best achieved through effective interpersonal relationships, the Home had a high staff-to-child ratio and correspondingly high running costs. This increasingly deterred the Local Authorities who placed children at the establishment and its deteriorating financial situation resulted in the Home's closure in 1986.

The property is now used as business premises.

Records

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Bibliography

  • Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
  • Hyland,Jim Yesterday's Answers: Yesterday's Answers: Development and Decline of Schools for Young Offenders (1993, Whiting and Birch)
  • Millham, S, Bullock, R, and Cherrett, P After Grace — Teeth: a comparative study of the residential experience of boys in Approved Schools (1975, Chaucer Publishing)