Staff 1963

Headmaster, 40 teachers, 1 secretary

Left click the group to see it enlarged..see also sections of the whole photo below

 Bird, Wilson
Gilchrist, Errington
Robertson

Colin Noble-Nesbitt(Maths), Malcolm Armstrong, Brun...
Cray (Maths), Tho..
Ure, Reed, Clea..

 Brunskill (Geog), Davidson, Addison, 
 Thorne, Foster,
Cleasby, Ridley, Rim..

Joe Quinn (English)
Fred Goodwin (Bio/Chem) Matthews
Rimer, Dr Caffrey

Dai Dixon(French), Noel,
Forster, Curry,
Lamb, Fawcett,

 Mr Skipsey(Music), Wise (Metalwork)
 Black, Walker
 Doxford, Howe

John Potts(English), Maddison,
Reg Gregory(Chemistry), Gargett (Maths)
Howe, Clayden,

Straughton (PE)
Petherbridge
Mrs Thompson
----------

Jon Bratton writes
" I had often wondered about the origins of the nicknames given to teachers...some were bleedingly obvious ..
T. Clayden was bound to be called Tubby..Tom Thumb was appropriate for the diminutive Mr. Graham...but why were Walter Matthews  and A.J.P.R. Reed known as Dan?
Mr. Matthews (French) was called "Dan." because Dan Matthews was a character in the TV series "Highway Patrol" that was running at about the time of his joining us. per Kevin Taylor

Here's my claim to fame. When the very slim Mr Black took us for Chemistry, before he came in for one of the first lessons I wrote on the board 'Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look'. Henceforth, the teacher was universally known as Cassius Black...
While on the subject of Cassius, here's a little anecdote.
His chemistry experiments often went wrong and after a lesson I showed a fellow pupil my version of the 'fountain experiment'. I attached a bunsen burner to a water tap, turned it on full and splashed the ceiling just as Cassius returned to the Chem Lab. As punishment he required me to write an essay on the merits of learning chemistry. It was light hearted, bordering on funny and next lesson I handed it to him and he started to read it out aloud to the class. When he got to the bit which said something like" with such knowledge you could become as accomplished as the eminent scientist Mr.C. Black, M.Sc., D.A.F.T" he became very stern (which I now realise he feigned) and told me to report to the staffroom in the break. That, with most teachers, meant the strap. I duly reported and I think he had forgotten about it. He grabbed a woollen school scarf and 'floated' it across my outheld hand, with the departing remark "let that be a lesson to you"
We took our Chemistry O level one year early and I passed...just ..
thanks Cassius

In contrast, as a first year, I was beaten, to an arrestable extent, by a teacher for the most minor of peccadillos. I was chatting to some boys and, without thinking, doodled my 'nom de plume' on the wall with chalk. The teacher asked me to report to his room at 4 o'clock. He asked me if I had heard the Headmaster announce at Assembly that boys caught daubing the walls (with paint...there was major vandalism going on) would be expelled. I was at North Dene that day and did not hear the announcement. The teacher showed me mercy..he would not have me expelled..instead he merely bent me over and lashed me many times...6 of the best, perhaps...with a size 12 gym slipper. As I limped from the room, I thanked the teacher. I could hardly walk.
It was only many years later, with an adult mind, that I realised that the teacher knew full well that doodling with chalk, whilst worthy of a reprimand, was not in the same league as major vandalism and took the opportunity to carry out the gratuitous beating of a very small 11 year old boy.
I won't name him because they were different times and I've heard good things said of him by others...but Sir, that was not your finest hour!!