Fatal flaw as school cracked up

Long before the recent tales of schools being affected by defective concrete, one Wolverhampton school faced a date with the demolition teams after developing a 150ft-long crack in the main building.

The structural faults at Parkfield School, which had 1,350 pupils, were discovered on the second floor in the summer of 1977. Architects ruled that nobody should enter the building off Dudley Road, and engineers carried out checks of the supporting beams during the holidays.

The upshot was that the block was cordoned off and the start of the new term was delayed. The use of mobile classrooms meant that school life was able to continue, but the structural problems, which in this case seem to have been caused by mining subsidence, were clearly beyond any economic repair as demolition of the faulty block began the following summer, while plans were made to erect a new block.

So despite the setback the school was to survive.

It had opened in April 1962 and served the neighbourhoods of Lanesfield, Woodcross, and Ettingshall. The school saw extensions built during the 1970s.

However it is no more. According to an official government website it officially closed on August 31, 2009, with its last head being Arthur Thompson. It was succeeded by South Wolverhampton and Bilston Academy, with school operations moving to Bilston.