Dame Allan's School

Dame Allan's Schools is a collection of private day schools in Fenham, in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It comprises a Junior School, Senior School and a Sixth Form. Founded in 1705 as a charity, the original schools are two of the oldest schools in the city. It was originally founded to provide education for "40 poor boys and 20 poor girls of the parishes of St Nicholas and St John" and now charges £5,607 per term (Junior School) and £6,901 per term (Secondary School and Sixth Form) for pupils to attend.

History

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The building in College Street in use by the school from 1883 to 1935; now part of Northumbria University.

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The current building in Fenham in use by the school since 1935

They were founded by Dame Eleanor Allan, the daughter of a local goldsmith and the widow of a tobacco merchant, to provide a proper education for "40 poor boys and 20 poor girls of the parishes of St Nicholas and St John". The schools were endowed with land at Wallsend, to the east of Newcastle. The original school seems likely to have been near St Nicholas's Church, and certainly was by 1778. It moved to Manor Chare near All Saints' Church in 1786, to Carliol Square in 1821, to Rosemary Lane off Pudding Chare in 1861, and to Hanover Square in 1875. The school then moved to College Street in Newcastle in 1883 and remained there until 1935 when it re-located to the present site in Fenham.

Until 1988 the schools operated as separate boys' and girls' schools with a joint governing body. The governors then took the decision to appoint a principal with overall responsibility for the management of the two schools. At the same time, they created a joint mixed sixth form and reintroduced a mixed junior school. In effect, Dame Allan's consisted of four different schools: the co-educational Junior school for nursery to Year 6 are located in a separate building in Spital Tongues; the single sex boys' and girls' schools for years 7 to 11; and the co-educational sixth form (years 12 to 13).

In 1994, an early day motion was brought before the UK Parliament citing incidences of racially motivated bullying at the school.

In 2023, Robert Johnson, who taught at Dame Allan's for over a decade, was found guilty of making indecent photographs of children between 2009 and 2020. He was sentenced to one year in jail and banned from teaching for life.

Staff walked-out in a dispute over pensions in March 2024: the school subsequently made an improved offer.

In 2025, it was announced that the school was to abandon the diamond structure and go fully coeducational, with the incoming Years 7-10 becoming coeducational in September 2026 and the incoming Year 11 adopting the change in September 2027. Some parents were vehemently opposed to the changes, prompting negative articles in local and national press.

Facilities

A number of new classrooms were built between 2004 and 2005 to replace older facilities, with some intended specifically for the sixth form centre. The Sixth Form Centre was opened by Queen Elizabeth II during an official visit on 14 October 2005 and was named the Queen's Building.

September 2012 saw the opening of the new nursery and junior school in Spital Tongues.

2015 saw Dame Allan's chosen as the recipient of a £250,000 grant to help fund a £500,000 project. The grant was given by the Reece Foundation which promotes the improvement of education in engineering, technology and related subjects. The new facility will build on the Schools' existing master class programme.

In February 2022 Dame Allan's Schools celebrated the opening of its Jubilee Building. The £8 million transformative development consists of a light and airy art exhibition space, purpose built science labs, a dedicated design technology space for sixth formers, as well as MFL, Art and maths classrooms.

Academics

Scholarships of up to 50% are available on the basis of academic merit, and bursaries of up to 100% are available on the basis of academic merit and financial need.

Being a private school, Dame Allan's does not strictly adhere to the National Curriculum. It does enter all its students in public examinations such as GCSEs and A-levels, so the subjects taught are closely tied into their national counterparts. All students must study English, mathematics, and the sciences to GCSE level, and it is strongly recommended that at least one foreign language be studied to this level. Sixth form students have a much wider range of study, with no mandatory subjects and the introduction of many new subjects in year 12, including A-levels in politics, psychology, sports, business and theatre studies. Dame Allan's is an Anglican school.

In 2005 the school recorded its best ever set of exam results, including a handful of Top 5 results in several subjects, notably GCSE languages. Furthermore, two pupils were awarded 6 grade As at A-level. The school consistently performs to an extremely high standard in public examinations, with the girls' school often slightly outscoring the boys' school at GCSE level. The school has not yet been inspected by OFSTED but received a positive report from the independent schools Inspectorate in 2000.

The 2000 inspection summarised the schools as "a civilised and civilising community ...[which provides] a well-rounded education for pupils from the age of 8 to 18" and the 2006 report states "Dame Allan's are good schools with several great strengths and no significant weaknesses. The schools succeed very well in their key aims of providing a broad education for their pupils, where academic success is greatly valued but so is the moral, social and spiritual development of pupils."

Notable former pupils

Former pupils are known as Old Allanians.

• Denis Fenwick Allison (born 1931), former English international rugby union player
• The Right Reverend John Crook (born 1940), former Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness
• Dame Myra Curtis (1886–1971), Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge
• Margaret Dale (1922–2010), dancer and television producer
• Professor Elizabeth Fallaize (1950–2009), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), University of Oxford
• Marian Foster (born 1948), broadcaster
• Edward Hinds FRS (born 1949), Professor of Physics
• Vick Hope (born 1989), TV and radio presenter
• Ian La Frenais (born 1936), writer
• David Leon (born 1980), actor
• Sir David Lumsden (born 1928), Choirmaster, organist and harpsichordist; former Principal of the Royal Academy of Music
• Philip Nicholson (born 1973), Northumberland cricketer
• Sebastian Payne (born 1989), journalist
• Peter Pilkington (1933–2011), Conservative Peer and former chairman of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission
• Varada Sethu (born 1992), actor.
• Keith Wrightson (born 1948), Randolph W. Townsend Professor of History, Yale University, since 2004.

External links

• The findings of the most recent inspection of the Boys' Schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in 2006
• The findings of the most recent inspection of the Girls' Schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in 2006
• Official school website
• A brief review of schools in the area mentioning Dame Allan's