# Don Valley Academy & Performing Arts College - Doncaster - Jan 2017



## Hippie Alien (Jan 2, 2017)

*History:*

The original school was built in the mid-1950s, with the first intake of pupils in September 1957. What was effectively another school was built in the mid-1960s as part of the move by the West Riding County Council to comprehensive education. It had more facilities than the existing one, including a swimming pool and much enhanced stage facilities in the main hall. The new school took up approximately half of the former playing fields . The second school ran for a year or so as a separate entity before the two merged to become Don Valley Comprehensive School. This naming was only brief and the school was soon renamed back to Don Valley High School, reportedly at the insistence of the then headmaster, Mr Horncastle. The newer school served students in their first three years of senior school, aged 11 to 14; the older school served them in the remainder of their time, aged 14 to 18, and included the lower and upper sixth forms.

In 2006, Don Valley became a Performing Arts College. Every student has a choice of dramatic arts or media to study. In 2011, Don Valley became an academy progressing from a performing arts school.

Now the older portion is set for Demolition within the coming weeks of the start of 2017.
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*Pics:​*


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## Wrench (Jan 2, 2017)

Oh I'm liking that, spiral staircase and everything. 
Splendid pics too.


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## smiler (Jan 2, 2017)

You captured that sense of abandonment HA, I hope the usable assets don't go in a skip, Proper Job, Thanks.


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## Sam Haltin (Jan 2, 2017)

Excellent photos. Still a lot of items left behind I hope they rescue the Blunther and it doesn't go under the bulldozers.


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## The_Derp_Lane (Jan 2, 2017)

Phenomenal report. The Bluthner could probably still be saved as it is, without needing to be rebuilt.


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## Hippie Alien (Jan 2, 2017)

dauntless - UE said:


> Phenomenal report. The Bluthner could probably still be saved as it is, without needing to be rebuilt.



Yea it probably could, it was still working


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## jsp77 (Jan 2, 2017)

still looks fairly good inside with plenty of bits still left behind, did you have a paddle in a canoe?


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## Hippie Alien (Jan 3, 2017)

jsp77 said:


> still looks fairly good inside with plenty of bits still left behind, did you have a paddle in a canoe?



Nah I didn't fancy falling in and getting wet through lol


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## krela (Jan 3, 2017)

Some really interesting bits there!


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## Bonjo (Jan 3, 2017)

Another great explore Hippie ! Really enjoyed the tree in the grounds.... sets the scene for the inside haha


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jan 3, 2017)

smiler said:


> You captured that sense of abandonment HA, I hope the usable assets don't go in a skip, Proper Job, Thanks.



All depends on the Demolition Contractor. Contract appears to be the usual one - Flatten and Clear Site Completely. The actual value of your so called 'usable assets' is peanuts compared with the costs of removal, storage or on site auction fees. The sale of such items might bring in 2% of money spent in 'saving' them for future use/sale. Up to quite recently there were two old mill buildings in my area that had been used by 'house clearance' businesses to store most of the small value dross they collected almost daily. The conversion of the mills to money making apartments and offices meant the rapid clear out onto the bonfire, when you move, you leave your 'rubbish' behind for others to sort out (hopefully!). Somebody else might take a liking to it, but at the end of the day it is just a pile of relatively valueless objects - as these gentlemen found out. It is the scrap value of the metals and the reclaimable stonework used in the building's construction that is the hopeful profit for these companies. A distant branch of my family have been in the demolition business in Doncaster for years and it was always the reclaimable construction materials that mattered and these were thus treated as potential money earners.

If you fancy anything, go and make the demolition contractor an offer - Before work starts. Then turn up at the allotted time with manpower and transport. Years ago I equipped a very well stocked model engineering workshop by this very means - all obtained from the contractor who was clearing a Sheffield Engineering firm's redundant tool room and site.


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## krela (Jan 3, 2017)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> All depends on the Demolition Contractor. Contract appears to be the usual one - Flatten and Clear Site Completely. The actual value of your so called 'usable assets' is peanuts compared with the costs of removal, storage or on site auction fees. The sale of such items might bring in 2% of money spent in 'saving' them for future use/sale. Up to quite recently there were two old mill buildings in my area that had been used by 'house clearance' businesses to store most of the small value dross they collected almost daily. The conversion of the mills to money making apartments and offices meant the rapid clear out onto the bonfire, when you move, you leave your 'rubbish' behind for others to sort out (hopefully!). Somebody else might take a liking to it, but at the end of the day it is just a pile of relatively valueless objects - as these gentlemen found out. It is the scrap value of the metals and the reclaimable stonework used in the building's construction that is the hopeful profit for these companies. A distant branch of my family have been in the demolition business in Doncaster for years and it was always the reclaimable construction materials that mattered and these were thus treated as potential money earners.



Most demolition contracts these days permit the contractor to salvage and resell anything they want. However rarely is anything of value unless the building is of very high quality (fireplaces, architectural features etc), so it usually gets chewed up in the demolition process. As Dirius says, just because someone somewhere might be able to reuse something, that doesn't make it viable to salvage. You have to find that person then squeeze a worthwhile profit out of them, which is unlikely for all but high demand or very rare items. Demolition contractors are also legally bound by current environmental law to salvage as much as they possibly can for recycling or re-use, and it's in their best interests to as even with the cost of processing and a low resale value it's often still cheaper than disposal costs with such high landfill taxes now.


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## Rubex (Jan 3, 2017)

Wow this is incredible! Nice one Hippie Alien


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## The Wombat (Jan 3, 2017)

Excellent report! 
Liking the swimming pool


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## Potter (Jan 7, 2017)

Looks excellent, and rather sizeable. That pool water is surprisingly clean.


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## lithiumlikable (Jan 18, 2017)

Amazing photos would love a snoop around there.


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## tmjwid (Feb 1, 2017)

Man it's sad seeing my old school in this state. If you would like any annotations for the areas and rooms you visited then I am more than happy to help. 

Why didn't you take any photos of the main hall (the room behind the red doors in photo 6)? That would have been wonderful to see again.


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## Hippie Alien (Feb 1, 2017)

tmjwid said:


> Man it's sad seeing my old school in this state. If you would like any annotations for the areas and rooms you visited then I am more than happy to help.
> 
> Why didn't you take any photos of the main hall (the room behind the red doors in photo 6)? That would have been wonderful to see again.



I did take some photos in there. Just didn't like how they turned out so didn't include them. Will have a look through my pics again and see what I have that I can post up


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## Hippie Alien (Feb 2, 2017)

Here are some of the pictures of the main hall I didn't include in my original post for you tmjwid


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## tmjwid (Feb 2, 2017)

Hippie Alien said:


> Here are some of the pictures of the main hall I didn't include in my original post for you tmjwid



Thank you for these. Would it be possible for you to release all the photos you took that you didn't feel were worth showing? More from a nostagia point than an artistic point as these photos have been gaining a lot of attention from people who went to the school. Thank you for taking these by the way, it's amazing to see even in its current state, that loads of the original posters and things are still there.


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## G4urbex (Apr 16, 2017)

Excellent report 

Could I ask a quick question
On your visit was it all fenced off with guard dog warnings? 

Out doing some various places in Doncaster today and this was on our list. But been out off because of the dog signs


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## Hippie Alien (Apr 17, 2017)

G4urbex said:


> Excellent report
> 
> Could I ask a quick question
> On your visit was it all fenced off with guard dog warnings?
> ...



Hey, there was some fencing round the place but no guard dog warning they are new along with actual guards with dog on patrol so I have been told.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Apr 17, 2017)

As always HA, the more a place appears on the internet, the greater the number of - shall we say 'the crazies' poke about a place. Being ex Dony, know the present situation and past history of this place very well and security is down to a company run by an old mate of mine. It's sad to see a place that produced so many creative people going down the tubes - with evidence of their work still on display in some cases. Another mate's wife did her teaching diploma here and like a previous poster states, is following this story with interest.


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## biccynana (May 17, 2017)

Superb photos. My old school (1983-89) - had no idea it was being demolished. Fascinating to see inside after all these years.


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## biccynana (May 17, 2017)

Potter said:


> Looks excellent, and rather sizeable. That pool water is surprisingly clean.



Funny isn’t it, cos looking at it now it looks pretty small to me, but when I attended the school in the 80s it seemed massive!


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## biccynana (May 17, 2017)

tmjwid said:


> Man it's sad seeing my old school in this state.



Ditto! Any idea what that spiral staircase was? Can’t for the life of me remember it (and I spent my entire secondary education, plus sixth form at the school).


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## flyboys90 (May 18, 2017)

Amazing how much is still there!Smashing images,Thanks for sharing.


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## prettyvacant71 (May 18, 2017)

Totally fab set of images HA! It shows that you thought about what you were doing in there and probably spent a lot of time, some great compositions and very atmospheric pics

Enjoyed your report, thanks!


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## Dirus_Strictus (May 19, 2017)

biccynana said:


> Ditto! Any idea what that spiral staircase was? Can’t for the life of me remember it (and I spent my entire secondary education, plus sixth form at the school).



I'm told that it was in one of the rehearsal halls - observers could watch the performers without disturbing them, then come down to the stage areas to comment with the actors. There was obviously an entrance to the room on the first floor so that people did not know they were being observed/assessed.


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## theshax1987 (Jul 19, 2017)

The spiral staircase was in the Library it went up to a computer room where the idea was you had access to referencematerial but couldn't be disturbed easily. We weren't allowed up there often I think I only went up there twice!


Dirus_Strictus said:


> I'm told that it was in one of the rehearsal halls - observers could watch the performers without disturbing them, then come down to the stage areas to comment with the actors. There was obviously an entrance to the room on the first floor so that people did not know they were being observed/assessed.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jul 19, 2017)

theshax1987 said:


> The spiral staircase was in the Library it went up to a computer room where the idea was you had access to referencematerial but couldn't be disturbed easily. We weren't allowed up there often I think I only went up there twice!



Cheers for that info. My original source got her information from some of the initial layout plans for the place. Obviously the layout was altered/better thought out when built.


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