The Maltonian Web


ARCHIVE PAGE: this website is gradually being updated from May 2022

Yorkshire Life 1963 - page 3

Prize giving
Page 3

For its extensive playing fields (now shared with the adjacent Secondary Modern School) Malton has to thank former pupils, staff, governors and friends, for as a result of their combined efforts the land was acquired to mark the new foundation's 21st birthday.

A 'voluntary controlled' school, it is still in receipt of an annual endowment from rents which, at the discretion of the Endowment Governors, is used for special needs. A strong Parent-Teacher Association is always willing to raise money for school needs and to help in many other ways.

No school is more fortunate in its governors. Sir William Worsley, Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding, is the present chairman, a position his father occupied before him. The Worsley family have always been connected with the school's life and one of the first public engagements of the Duchess of Kent (then Miss Katharine Worsley) was to present the trophies at a school Sports Day.

In this age of specialization, Malton wisely aims to keep the curriculum as broad as possible for as long as possible, despite increasing pressure of examinations - a policy which is justified by academic results. There are thirty-one scholars at present at universities, seven as lecturers or research students and twenty-four as undergraduates, a good proportion in a school whose numbers have only recently passed the 250 mark. That indeed may be an advantage; it means that the school is small enough to be successful in its aim to keep its pupils individuals, capable of independent thought and sound judgement.

Prize giving
Play rehearsal

Arts and Crafts, which have their own special block of buildings, play a large part at Malton in the development of the individual. Music and drama are also encouraged as a means of expression. The school has a strong musical tradition and recently the orchestra has been revived, to include even brass, and is already giving its own concerts. For dramatic performances, besides an up-to-date stage in the Assembly Hall, Malton has also an open-air theatre where the stage is grass and the wings privet hedges. Plays performed cover a wide range. A further outlet for creative energies is the recently acquried theatre workshop.

Sport is fostered, perhaps, by the Chairman's interest in cricket and also by the fact that Vic Wilson, the Yorkshire cricketer, and Terry Dyson, of Tottenham Hotspur, are both Old Boys. In 1961-2 Malton were the North Riding Schools' Senior Champions in both Hockey and Tennis.

The school's age-long Christian tradition is still strong. Every day begins with assembly when the whole school gathers in the hall for a short service - hymn, prayer, reading. In the headmaster's words, it is the focus of the day's work.