Arthur Mellows Village College

Arthur Mellows Village College
Address
Helpston Road Glinton Peterborough , Cambridgeshire , PE6 7JX United States
Coordinates	52°38′13″N 0°18′09��W / 52.63693°N 0.30246°W / 52.63693; -0.30246Coordinates: 52°38′13″N 0°18′09″W / 52.63693°N 0.30246°W / 52.63693; -0.30246
Information
Type	Academy
Local authority	Peterborough
Department for Education URN	110875 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11 to 18
Colour(s)	green, white and black
Website	http://www.arthurmellows.peterborough.sch.uk

Arthur Mellows Village College is a secondary school in Glinton in the local authority of Peterborough. The school is an academy with a specialism in technology. Olympic gymnast Louis Smith and professional footballer Luke Steele are amongst the famous alumni. The school is named after a former mayor of Peterborough. From 1948 until the 1970s, the Arthur Mellows Memorial Trust hosted lectures at the college and provided education grants in subjects of personal interest to the late Colonel.^[1] Built just after WWII, the school was designed so that it could be quickly converted into a hospital if necessary. However, this was never required. It is most evident on the main ground floor teaching corridor of the original building, where large glass windows make easy viewing from corridor to classrooms which could be re-purposed as wards. The external walls of these classrooms are almost entirely glass which would have allowed patients access to large amounts of light and south facing patios. The school was originally built to serve the villages from Wittering to Eye which form an approximate straight line, the village of Glinton being in the middle. More recently the school developed a broader catchment including pupils from the large Peterborough suburb of Werrington. In the 1970s and 1980s the school was ahead of its time in terms of community links that are an obligation of all schools today. Arthur Mellows offered night time classes and a meeting area for several community groups/clubs and also once had a public library on site. As such the school used to refer to the headteacher using the title "Warden". More recently this was changed for the more recognisable term "Head of College". In the 2000s multiple Peterborough schools were considered failing, closed down, demolished, rebuilt and re-named. However, Arthur Mellows converted to academy status, underwent significant expansion and was considered a successful school. Originally opened to serve the rural community, green is a prominent colour on the uniform.^[2]

Urban legend[]

1940s Chrysler, of the type owned by Arthur Mellows

The college is named after its founder Arthur Holditch Mellows (1892 or 1896-1948), a British army captain from the Hunts Cyclist Battalion^[3] who was promoted to colonel during World War I, served in Iraq during the 1920s, and commanded local Home Guard units during World War II.^[4][5] In the interwar years he became a solicitor, and from 1935-37 as Mayor of Peterborough he oversaw the construction of the town's first swimming pool, Peterborough Lido.^[6][7] From 1943 onwards he headed the national education committee and owned a black Chrysler Windsor, an unusual sight in wartime Britain.^[8] Colonel Mellows was returning from a shoot on 16 October 1948, when his car was struck by a train at Conington, Huntingdonshire.^[9][10] According to a local myth, the level crossing is haunted by the ghosts of Colonel Mellows and his Labrador retriever.^{[11][12][13][14]}

References[]

External links[]

• Arthur Mellows Village College