A happy school
"I first became aware of the school through an advertisement in the Times Educational Supplement; the local authority evidently wanted to appoint a teacher of geography at the school. At that time I was the senior geography master at Andover County Secondary School, and had been in Hampshire for 11 years.
"Originally from Exeter, and with a young family, I was keen to get back closer to the 'homeland'. I applied late in 1965… and heard nothing. I forgot about my application. They say the processes of law grind slowly, but I was unaware that the Plymouth City Council of those days had honed their skills of procrastination to such a high standard.
"Evidently, unknown to me, interviews had been going on throughout the early months of 1966, and I was at the end of the queue. Obviously they were either keeping the best for last or rather by that time they were desperate, as I was offered the job there and then! It was the best move I ever made, and as it turned out I would stay there for the next 22 years – until the school closed.
"In my opinion – but of course I'm biased – Widey was a very good and happy school; had it not been, I wouldn't have stayed. The headmaster in my time, apart from the last two years, was Mr KJ Salter ('Batman', on account of his cape) who possessed the most important attribute a head can have; he trusted his staff to get on with the job they were paid to do, with an absolute minimum of interference, for which he was repaid with enthusiasm and hard work on the part of his stable and happy staff. The examination results were very good indeed!
"The large group photo was taken just before the school closed, when numbers were a shadow of the 400-plus pupils of former times. In those last few years the school that had been filled with energy and vitality for more than a generation became, for me, a somewhat sad place. The sixth form had been removed a few years earlier, and as the fifth forms reached their time no first-years arrived to replace them, and so the school slowly withered away.
"With fewer and fewer pupils, younger staff sought other posts and the number of 'ghost' classrooms increased. There was one innovation, though. Devon Education TV staff and their equipment found use for the newly-vacated space: a strange twist, because space had been something the school desperately lacked in its heyday, as those who were sixth-formers then could testify.
The DHS sixth form common room was very spacious and made our visiting youngsters quite jealous, and with reason; the Widey sixth form common room was part of one of the boy's toilets, and I had occasion to throw them out of this unpleasant space when it was needed. Smaller groups had to be taught in other such unhelpful settings as the entrance foyer, the ATC hut (freezing in winter, sweltering in summer) or on the stage in the main hall.
"In the photo Mr Hurst is in the centre and I am to his right. To my right are members of the secretarial staff, lab assistants and caretaking staff. To the left of Mr Hurst are other teachers: Mrs Harbour, Mr Perkin, Mr Atkinson, Mr Couchman, Mr Pengelly, Mr Lewis, Mr Andrews, Mr Furse and Dr Knott. Before the decision was taken to close the school there had been some 30 teachers; sadly many are no longer with us."
Anyone wishing to learn more can check out the copies of the school magazine Harry deposited in the West Devon Record Office at Clare Place, Coxside.
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