The imperious Sunderland College Bede Campus began life as Sunderland Higher Grade School in 1890 but now the neo-gothic buildings stand empty…
Not often photographed, the impressive Sunderland College Bede Campus, built in 1927 for a reported £112,000…
It began life as Sunderland Higher Grade School back in 1890 located on what was previously the site of the old Sunderland Civic Centre.
The symmetrical relocation in 1927 saw the doors open in 1929, but following the education act in 1944, the two schools became Grammar Schools: the Girls’ School had around 500 girls in the 1950s, and by the 1960s the Boys’ School had over 900 boys.
In 1971 Bede School became a co-educational non-selective Comprehensive School, closing in 1991 a year after celebrating its centenary. Both the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools of the original school and the successor Comprehensive School were referred to, locally, as Bede School or ‘The Bede’; named after the legendary Venerable Bede.
So much for 11+ but a fascinating building nonetheless…