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Mr A.J. Rocca, Headmaster 1951-63
Like his predecessor, Ambrose Joseph Rocca was a remarkable man. His grandfather arrived in Manchester from the Genoa region of Italy in 1870, with his wife Louisa and possibly Mr Rocca’s father who was born in 1870, either in Manchester or en route. Mr Rocca’s father was John Ambrose Rocca and he was the headmaster of St Michael’s, Ancoats. The family moved from Ancoats to Blackley and the young Ambrose served as an altar boy at Mount Carmel and attended the school. He then went to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Middleton. In 1927-28, he acted as a pupil teacher at St Anne’s School, Ancoats, before training as a teacher at Sheffield Training College between 1928 and 1930. Prior to commencing his teaching career at St Gregory’s, he briefly taught at Armitage Street School in Gorton.
Ambrose Joseph Rocca began teaching at St Gregory’s in April 1932, aged 22, when he was “given classes in the science laboratory”. In his early years at the school, he was, among other things, one of the music masters and taught in the old hall in the south wing. He then “moved upstairs” to teach geography, book-keeping and shorthand.
Known affectionately by the boys as “Joe Rocca”, Mr Rocca was a brilliant and versatile teacher, knowledgeable in many subjects and competent and comfortable in teaching them.
In his many years at the school, both as an assistant teacher and headmaster, he demonstrated to generations of boys his professional expertise at teaching virtually all subjects of the curriculum, sometimes at very short notice as when he covered for an absent colleague. He taught English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, French, religion and Italian, to name just a few, in addition to those subjects previously mentioned. In a cover lesson, he did not just “set work” or instruct boys to “get on with something”. Instead, he actually taught them.
The Rocca family was well-known in Manchester. Mr Rocca’s older first cousin, Louis, was a scout for Manchester United; other cousins were prominent in the ice-cream business.
Throughout his first spell at the school Mr Rocca studied for a degree and was awarded a B.Comm. (London) in 1937.
Between 1938 and 1940 Mr Rocca was at various times “deputed” to give lectures to the students at the High School of Commerce in Manchester, sometimes being given leave of absence to do so.
His war-time service has already been mentioned, as has his return in 1946 from the Senior Service after being away for five years. He continued his studies and in 1948 gained a B.Sc. (Econ.) before, once again, departing St Gregory’s in November 1949 in order to commence his duties as headmaster at the nearby Holy Name School in Chorlton-on-Medlock.
Mr Rocca led St Gregory’s through a period of expansion and success. His views, philosophy and vision for the school will be dealt with later. What follows is a chronicling of some of the issues and events of his early years in charge of the school. Some of these may appear trivial and insignificant in the grand scheme of things but they were important at the time and give an insight into aspects of daily life at the school in the Fifties.
Scholarship examinations
These were held annually over one-and-a-half days in early February for candidates from local primary schools, the numbers being up to about 260. They were supervised by St Gregory’s staff. These exams were often called the ‘Manchester 11+’ to distinguish them from the ‘Lancashire 11+’, which was held on a Saturday morning.
Panel meetings, March 1951
A number of teachers were required to attend half-day panel meetings at the Education Offices in Manchester. These included Messrs Fitzpatrick, Hannon, Andrew, Vickers, O’Brien, Berry, Corney, Avery and Sheridan, presumably to discuss matters relating to the Central School Certificate examinations in their respective subjects. The shorthand panel met at St Gregory’s.
With the introduction of the new Ordinary Level GCE examinations, teachers would also have had to familiarise themselves with the new syllabuses and examination requirements.
Weekly Mass
An early initiative was the decision to introduce the practice that on all Fridays in future one form would attend Holy Mass at St Aloysius’ Church from 9.30 to 10.00am
Timetable change
Another change concerned rooming and the timetable. A decision was recorded that music lessons were to be taken in “Room 11 and the Hall used for Physical Training”. This would enable all classes to have two periods of PT each week. This change had originally been recommended in the 1949 HMI Report. However, it would appear that the new room used for music was on the first floor, not the second floor as suggested.
To obviate the continual change of rooms, classes were now to remain, as far as possible, in one room and teachers were to move to their classes. Where classes would normally have been taught history and geography in specialist rooms, they were now to be taught only once each week in these rooms for their respective subjects.
Derelict property
A recurrent problem for Mr Rocca concerned the old, derelict buildings down the west (left) side and along north end of the yard. He considered them “to be highly dangerous” and, along with other colleagues and visitors, inspected them regularly. Loose slates and gutters, together with leaning and unstable walls, posed a serious threat to the safety of the pupils. On one occasion a boy was injured due to part of the guttering round the old gymnasium collapsing during a dinner hour. Arrangements were immediately made by Mr Rocca for a contractor to “remove at once any other part of the building likely to be dangerous”. Throughout his time as head, he was aware of these dangers and regularly brought in officers of one sort or another to make inspections before submitting reports to the managers and governors.
Headmaster’s office
Entering the building up the steps of John Rylands’ former home, Mr Rocca’s office was to the left on the ground floor facing the park.
Staff Room
This was located on the second floor of the south wing, near the dining room but overlooking Ardwick Green Park.
Staff, about 1951
Standing, from left: Mr R. Berken, Mr B. Clough, Mr J. P. O’Malley, Mr T. Sheridan, Mr F. Andrew, Mr J.F. Vickers, Mr R. Travers, Mr B. Berry, Mr D. Brannan, Mr W. Hannon and Mr T. F. Fitzpatrick.
Seated, from left: Mr M.W. Peers, Mr W. Kerr, Mr H. Avery, Mrs M. Richards (Secretary), Mr A.J. Rocca (Headmaster), Mr E. Corney, Mr H. O’Brien, Mr A.L. Smith and Mr B. Gorton.
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