Gateshead Road, church hall/school

In 1907 Miss Jackson was appointed head mistress of the infants section of Marley Hill Colliery School. As numbers increased a temporary infant school was opened for Sunniside residents in Sunniside on 23 April 1923. It was called Sunniside Temporary Council School.The school was housed in St. Cuthbert's church hall on Gateshead Road. There were 62 children aged up to 9 years. The hall was built in 1914, a pebble-dashed building with a hall and stage. In 1936 there were 74 pupils, taught in the same room in two classes. By 1955 an alcove had been partitioned off to form a staff room and the hall was separated into two teaching spaces by a curtain. School meals were prepared in Burnopfield and served in the hall. The parish hall had a scullery but no kitchen. In 1938 the school was used to diostribute gas masks. By April 1940 air raid shelters had been installed. The school closed in 1963. It stood empty until 1965 when it became a warehouse for a heating engineer. On 7 March 1970 the building burnt to the ground in a fire. A bungalow (High Trees) was built on the site. Locals knew the school as the White Elephant School. A 'temporary school' that lasted 52 years!