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Welcome to Tanfield Association's Website - Click here to find out why you should join this group and help Tanfield School!


Tanfield Association is holding its AGM to mark the school's 114th anniversary on Monday 12th October 2026 at 11am in Tantobie Community Centre.

Please note any reference in the email to parking at the school is an error and there is adequate parking at Tantobie Community Centre!

If you are a member or would like to join the association (£10 a year subscription) you would be welcome to meet us at the AGM. There will be a short formal meeting followed by a pie and peas lunch, a raffle and catching up with friends/staff. If you need more information, you can find it at:
Click here to view the AGM details


Here is the life story of an ex SGS pupil from South Moor. Les Strong PhD (SGS 1952-1958) had a distinguished career in the Zoology Department of Bristol University and we are proud to publish his story.
Click here to view the article


From the Evening Chronicle, here is a tribute to Dr Fenwick Justin John Lawson who died recently. Fenwick was a pupil at Stanley Grammar School in the 1940s and became an acclaimed artist renowned for his depicture of the Northumberland saints.
Click here to view the article


Here are the photos from the recent visit to Tanfield School by Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP, the Secretary of State for Education.
Bridget Phillipson has praised the outstanding performance of Tanfield School
Click here for photos


You may be interested to read the life story of Alderman Henry Curry Wood who founded the school and opened it on 16th October 1912.
It was named "Higher Elementary School and Pupil Teachers’ Centre"
The article was compiled by his great granddaughter Alison. Click here for article


We are delighted to announce that Tanfield School is currently ranked #1 in County Durham based on its published Progress 8 score of +0.83.
Progress 8 is a headline accountability measure used by the Department for Education to show how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and their GCSEs, compared to students with similar prior attainment nationally.
Many congratulations to Headteacher Steven Clough, all staff and pupils.


UPDATED - The Tanfield Glass was created in 2008 by Claire Humpherson. It was awarded annually to a person who had made a significant contribution to the Association or to Tanfield School. It was accidentally broken in 2021 and was replaced by the Tanfield Star.

We are pleased to announce that this year's award goes to Joy Drake for her work supporting the Association.

Recipients:
2008 Barbara Churcher
2009 Fred Westwater
2010 June Todd
2011 Susan Donkin
2012 Elizabeth Hawkins
2013 Peter Brown
2014 Ted Brabban
2015 Howard Bott
2016 Len Broxson
2017 Joyce Charlton
2018 Duncan Davis
2019 Amy Bilton
2020 Jonathan Coates
2021 Covid pandemic… (no presentation)
2022 Elizabeth Hawkins
2023 Steven Clough and Team Tanfield
2024 Christine McGough
2025 Joy Drake

In Memory of Astrid Reeve (née Ashburn)

We are sad to report the passing of Astrid who attended SGS from 1950-57. Her funeral will be held at 11am on October 6th at St. Thomas R.C. Church, Wolsingham.



A tribute to Gina Jack (née Eggleston) by former pupil Duncan Davis

We are sorry to announce the death of Gina Jack. Here is a heartfelt tribute from Duncan Davis:

Mrs Jack taught me art for 7 years from 1962 to 1969; for about half of that time she was Miss Eggleston. Art was my strongest subject so we developed a very good relationship. I attended her "after school art club" with great enthusiasm and have always treasured a pen portrait she did of me in 1964 (see below). I remember the excitement when she procured a potter's wheel and a kiln for the art department, opening up whole new world of fun and of sloppy clay, pots and sculpture.
In my years at Stanley Grammar School very few pupils had gone on to art college so she took particular interest when I was accepted at Sheffield Art College and from there to the School of Photography at Derby Art College.
I have spent most of the rest of my life working as a photographer in the advertising world which included photographing a lot of food. So it followed that, in 2018, I helped produce a calendar recreating the SGS school meals of the 1960s. The photography was produced in my studio with the help of Amy and Elizabeth and I insisted that Mrs Jack come along as the art director. It was wonderful to be able to work with her for that week.
In her retirement, she produced a semi autobiographical book ‘Calendar Pigs’ based on her experience as a child evacuated to a remote Northumberland farm to live with her Aunty and Uncle. The world she describes in the remote Allen Valley without mains water or electricity is on a par with Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie.
As well as a talented artist, she was an exceptionally talented author. In the copy she gave me, she wrote that she hoped to have it dramatised. Sadly that didn’t happen in her lifetime.
I am proud that the handwritten note in the book described me as a pupil and friend and she wrote of the pleasure she found in working with me nearly 50 years after I first walked into her classroom.
It was my privilege, Mrs Jack I will miss you.