Report - Clarence High School - Formby - January 2023

[MK83]

Apparently police are now involved & its pretty well sealed, that didnt take long

That was quick! It's a pretty nice area surrounded by posh houses so I can't imagine them taking kindly to hordes of people repeatedly chanting like and subscribe.

 

[Midnight]

I went to this school from 2001-06.. I would be happy to answer any questions about what rooms were what etc.. It's a real shame to see it like this. We were really treated well for the most part, there were about 60 kids max at anytime in the whole school.. about 2 kids per staff member. I lived in the 'units' across the road also, in Scott Unit and Bennett Unit during my time there. It was a great school and I made some really good friends. The head teacher at the time was Donagh McKillop, a stern Irishman with an awesome sense of humour 😂

 

[MK83]

I went to this school from 2001-06.. I would be happy to answer any questions about what rooms were what etc.. It's a real shame to see it like this. We were really treated well for the most part, there were about 60 kids max at anytime in the whole school.. about 2 kids per staff member. I lived in the 'units' across the road also, in Scott Unit and Bennett Unit during my time there. It was a great school and I made some really good friends. The head teacher at the time was Donagh McKillop, a stern Irishman with an awesome sense of humour 😂

Amazing to hear from people who attended this place. People seem to think it was a very positive place that actually helped kids. Makes you wonder why it's being shut down?

 

[Midnight]

Amazing to hear from people who attended this place. People seem to think it was a very positive place that actually helped kids. Makes you wonder why it's being shut down?

I think it was the constant lack of any real success from the school, anti-social behavior issues from the neighbors-it was in a really posh area.. Not long after I left it became solely a day school, the units kids stayed in were demolished, but I think the main reason was lack of students. Most of the time I was in class, we would number 5-10 at most, and usually more towards the former. But yeah, the school was really good, staff wise. The kids were a menace, some real horrible people went there when I attended but it's to be expected. There were never any reports of abuse, anything like that. The classes were science, maths, english, design tech/food tech, IT, PE, history and RE. Nothing major in the way of subjects. The football team however was really successful. We won basically every tournament we played in. Steven Gerrard lives at the end of the road also. As does John Parrott.
There was also the constant concern of fires. The school was located right next to a massive brushland separating the school from the train tracks, the golf course and RAF Woodvale and without exception, every week a student would decide to set fire to it and cause trains and planes to be cancelled etc.. Insane to think about now!

 

[C&Aexplores]

such a beautiful place, unfortunately we were unable to get in on this occasion as there was a very angry man as we stepped onto the grounds. filming us and accusing us of coming for the copper haha. If you do go be very wary of him.... we will try again soon hehe 🤪

 

[Midnight]

If there are any more plans, I would love to tag along. It hurts my heart to see it in the condition it is in now but I feel I might add some context to the rooms and the history etc..
I found an old article about the football team, I know all the names on there.. it was a year after I left I think. Kevin Rutter was a baller lol.. best player I ever played with by far!

Football: Shoot-out agony as Clarence are pipped again by old rivals; School Sport. - Free Online Library

Free Online Library: Football: Shoot-out agony as Clarence are pipped again by old rivals; School Sport.(Sport) by "Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England)"; News, opinion and commentary General interest

www.thefreelibrary.com

 

[GRONK]

Just popped back for a look and it seems to have been slightly on fire.

 

[Midnight]

Ahh that sucks.. It'll be fully torn down soon enough if people continue to cause damage.. won't be long before someone hurts themselves and the council will have to answer questions as to why it was so easily accessed so many times. It's a shame to see it like this. I have years of happy memories from the place though and based on what it was, that is pretty good considering.

 

[MK83]

Just popped back for another look and it seems to have been slightly on fire since January.

Unsurprising really, eas only a matter of time.

 

[Bazza74]

The fire was literally last night. I passed by on Friday and there were two security guards with an Alsatian parading around outside, not doing a great job by the look at it.

 

[Northwest_abandoned]

Nice find that is, like you say the condition isn't too bad at all.

i went with a friend after only a few month of it being abandoned and we stumbled onto it and the first doors we tried happened to be opened and it was perfect not a single bit of damage.whent back recently and half the building has been burnt down and everything has been smashed up.

 

[Shadoway]

i went with a friend after only a few month of it being abandoned and we stumbled onto it and the first doors we tried happened to be opened and it was perfect not a single bit of damage.whent back recently and half the building has been burnt down and everything has been smashed up.

It’s a shame about the damage and it’s well sealed now. There’s no visible cameras but the entrances are all boarded/screwed shut and there’s motion detector alarms inside.

Redrow have recently submitted plans to flatten it and cover it with houses so guess they don’t want people getting in anymore.

 

[Northwest_abandoned]

History - The school was originally built in 1885 as St Annes Industrial School for girls, a residential school run by sister Cecile Robinson and nine sisters of charity. The girls were expected to do knitting, laundry, cookery and needlework as well as general housework on top of their lessons. They made all of their own clothing as well as taking on work from outside the school. The school closed in 1922 and was taken over by St Georges industrial school for boys. Most recently the building has housed Clarence High School, a school for children with social or emotional difficulties. In 2018 it was announced the school would close due to financial difficulties.

Explore - Access to this place is easy, the site is quite large and there's a lot of stuff left. There's some evidence of metal thieves and vandalism but all in all it's not in the worst state. Quite an interesting mooch with some interesting stuff to see.

Thanks for looking.

I whent here in December 2022 and was basically in the same state as these pictures whent back two months ago and is in terrible state there was a big fire here and people have just vandalised it to the point of no return it will most definitely get knocked down and houses put up

 

[elliott1975]

I attended this school back in 1987/8 till 1991, got sent as I got expelled from my high school not long after reporting abuse at home, I was then sent a special school that was teaching ten years behind so I took off, SS & council along with my abusers decided boarding school, nope this was a borstal & was like scenes from the film SCUM. The abuse at the hands of the staff was barbaric, they would get lads beat me to point I'd be bed bound for days then staff would come rescue me, go in shower clean off, then staff member slammed my head in wall & continued to abuse me, this was a daily occurrence, three Wigan lads in our dorm n what 15+ scousers, in 80s was a huge clash, I don't know how I survived it, honestly thought I'd die in there, started from me reporting abuse, SS didn't take kindly to any form of abuse claims back then, you reported it you got further abused, go school with marks you obv been fighting, more abuse, I did get offered stay on another year to further help my education as I was naturally behind due to taking of from special school. I was took on weekend of school summer holidays, stayed the 7 weeks, was awful but 4 lads I think & around 6 or do girls, we had good crack, kids came back & rest of staff then it turned into the film SCUM.
I did report the abuse a few years ago but there's no records I was there or anyone in 80s according to police, police did however say if I could prove I was there then they would investigate & until then case closed, there was info on Google back in 2008/9 & I think it's from that report & 100s of abuse claims that the school finally closed, not by financial reasons as they stated. Seeing video made me feel physically sick & brought back nightmares I try keep buried but at same time many like me will see this & like me have more info from post & comments now to take back to get my case heard, I am slowly writing my story & this place takes up huge chunk of my book. My story will go out there & hopefully it goes on to help other victims.

 

[elliott1975]

I'm free answer any questions anyone may have.