History of Harton Technology College

Harton Technology College has a tradition spanning many years and a large number of South Shields people are proud to have been educated at this school. We can trace the school’s roots back to the 1880’s and in 1936 the school moved to its present site.

Today Harton Technology College specialises as a Technology College, Languages College and Vocational College. We were the first school in the North of England to be awarded triple subject specialist status and are currently pursuing a Post 16 presumption to open a Vocational Centre as a ‘High Performing Specialist School’.

In recent years the school has thrice been recognised as being amongst the top 50 most improved specialist schools in the country and has received 3 Government Achievement Awards. In our latest Ofsted report (November 2006), we were judged as being ‘outstanding’ in every category, with ‘no significant areas for improvement’.

I believe the future looks very bright and I am very keen that we will continue to improve on the extremely high standards observed by the inspectors.

K A Gibson

Head Teacher

Former Pupils

Dr Frederick Ernest Chapman - 1888 to 1938

South Shields High School, Durham County, Westoe RFC, Hartlepool Rovers RFC, England

The first player to score a Try, Conversion and Penalty at Twickenham
England vs. Wales

Professor John Erickson - 17th April 1929 to 10th February 2002

As a pupil at the High School, John won an open scholarship to Cambridge and after a period of national service he took his place at St Johns College where he read History.

After Cambridge John moved up the academic ladder working at the Universities of Oxford, St. Andrews, Manchester and Edinburgh. He became a consultant to the Ministry of Defence and the United Nations. His talents were recognised in the USA at such prestigious Universities as Harvard, Princeton and Berkeley. They were also appreciated in Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad. John’s specialism was Military and Political History in the Eastern Bloc. Such was the quality of his scholarship and the integrity of the man, he became unique in being accepted and admired by both sides of the Iron Curtain and obtained the trust of the Soviets. He has been described by many as a genius and one man who did more than most to bring an end to the cold war.

Right Hon. Walter Runceman, M.P.

Walter Runceman was one of the first pupils to attend the South Shields High School. He was the son of a Tyneside Shipowner. Walter left the school to go to Cambridge University. After leaving University he became involved in politics and was elected an M.P. His talents were recognised by various Prime Ministers and Walter Runceman was a member of many Governments over a period of more than 30 years. He held various Government offices including Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1907/08, President of the Board of Education 1908/11 and President of the Board of Trade 1914/1916 and again from 1931 to 1935.