In 1940 the Secondary Modern School opened in Codsall. I went there to teach in 1948.
In the early years the school served a very wide area. Pupils from as far away as Albrighton came on the train. They continued to attend Codsall for a little while after 1948 when I started. Three or four bus loads of pupils also came in from Tettenhall and Tettenhall Wood, prior to Regis opening.
From the start it was a mixed school. The original building was the red-brick part of today's school. There were differences though, for instance where the small swimming bath is today, there was an open grassy rectangle, surrounded by open corridors. It was very uncomfortable on a wet and windy day.
At the front of the building was a woodwork room. There was only one to start with, another one was built on later. Then there was the Assembly Hall. At the back of the stage was a small dark room, with a fireplace and after that there was the Domestic
Science Room and the corridor finished.
Coming back to the Hall and taking the corridor at right angles you went past the girls toilets and cloakrooms. That was an open corridor and finished with a few steps at the end before the door leading into the corridor which formed the other end of the square design. Turning right along here there was a small classroom which was where I taught. On the original plan it was the Men's Staffroom with the Women's Staffroom at the other end.
After this room there was the needlework room, the lab and storerooms. At the foot of the stairs there was another small room. I believe it is now used as the nurses� room. Upstairs there were seven classrooms. These included the Art Room, the Geography Room, other form rooms and the big room at the end was another Art Room. That was the whole school.
In 1948 there were also some outside huts. There was one in the playground across the corridor from the original Domestic Science Room. It was an awful place. It was a single brick construction. Inside the bricks were just painted over and water used to run down the walls. If you took a quick look at the floors they looked like slate, but I think they were asphalt � slatey coloured with a smooth finish.
There was no lino or anything like that on them so you can imagine the noise every time anyone moved a chair. The hut had its own heating system, a coke stove was situated somewhere, but the heating rarely seemed to work so what with the noise and the damp atmosphere you can imagine what horrible rooms they were to work in. The school had quite a large garden. The air-raid shelters were still there, on the area where there is a large green-house today. At various times other huts were added on. There was one near the small-holdings, in front of today's Youth Centre and another one on the right at the top of the Entrance drive.
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