New Harbin
(1970-Present)
Henry Harbin - Technical and Vocational Education
Throughout the 70s and the 80s, Henry Harbin School developed an increased focus on technical education which consisted of maths and science.
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Henry Harbin also continued to excel academically. Mr Mealings later described the school as 'On the Crest of a Wave' to the Bournemouth Echo in 1977. The school achieved a record 1650 successful C.S.E entries. Mr Mealings, the headteacher, credited the work of the students and the participation of parents within the parent teacher association.
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The school attempted to cater for the needs of all and created a unique course in 1984, the objective of which was to provide work profiles for students that had a good vocational grounding.
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Henry Harbin Status Change
In 1985 the headteacher, John Short, continued the work of his predecessor, with the school's focus towards a technical education, consisting of science, mathematics, and later computing. In 1988 two new science laboratories were built at a cost of £155,000, funded by Dorset County Council.
In 1999, the school petitioned the government to change its status to a technical high school, hoping it would increase the school's standing, and represent its specialisation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics ) subjects. This led to widespread worry by other local schools, fearful that this change would negatively affect their admissions.
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The local grammar schools and Bournemouth College were fiercely opposed to this idea. Former headteacher, Mr Mealings, came to the defence of John Short's decision. He wrote an article titled: "Technical High Status - Henry Harbin has earned it." Ultimately, the school's request was approved in 1991 and it became a Technical High School. This allowed it to maintain a small sixth form which focused on educating 17-18 year olds.
In the early 1970s, the decision was made to combine the boys' and girls' schools under the headship of Mr R. Mealings.
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This decision reflected the wider times with many secondary schools beginning to experiment with mixed education during this period. They would undertake this by integrating the first year and then monitor what happened before fully changing their structure.
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Merger of the Schools
Henry Harbin Name Change
Because of this status change, John Short was eager to change the name of the school. There were two reasons for this:
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The first reason was a desire to make obvious the status change to a technical high school.
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The second reason was that both John Short and the school governors believed that Henry Harbin was not a suitable role model for students, as his sudden death had been the consequence of a "riotous life".
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This request was rejected in 1991 and 1992 by the council. Also, there was an outcry from the Poole Society of Men who believed that the name change would damage the heritage of the wider Poole area. Finally, between 1992 and 1993 the name was changed to Poole Technical High School. A new science block commissioned in 1995 at the cost of £370,000 signified this change.
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