ABOUT BISHOP GOODWIN 

Bishop Harvey Goodwin was one of the outstanding bishops of the Church of England in the late 19th century and arguably the greatest Bishop of Carlisle in modern times.

He was born and brought up in King’s Lynn and won a scholarship to Cambridge where he took a brilliant First in mathematics. His doctorate was in mathematics. He became a member of the Ecclesiological Society. He studied for ordination at the same time as carrying out his Fellowship duties and was ordained to the title of his fellowship. Some years later, he was appointed dean of Ely.

In 1869 he became Bishop of Carlisle. His diocesan conferences became legendary; he insisted that new churches should be commissioned only from the best architects (and Carlisle still has some of the consistently finest churches in England of that period); he confirmed vast numbers at huge services lasting several hours; and he insisted that only the finest standards of church music were adequate for the Church.

He died in his sleep at Bishopthorpe  1891, in his mid-seventies.

FROM 1872…

Education has always been one of the important social works of the church. 

Mr GAH Mounsey-Heysham gave a site of land for this purpose. Later it was proposed to erect a set of mission buildings at a cost of £1.350, which should be available as (a) a Sunday School; (b) as a room for Mission Services, Bible Class, GFS, The Men’s Mutual Improvement Society, etc.; and (c) as a high class Church of England Day School. Previous to this the children from this area of the parish went to school across the railway bridge into the city. Sunday School was held along with services in the “old pottery”, a room rented at four shillings a week.

Most off the finance for the new project was gathered by public subscription and monies were receive by the Revd H lonsdale, Upperby Vicarage, and the Misses Benson, Brisco Hill. Bishop Diggle, of Carlisle, preached in Upperby Church one Sunday. We are told the church was very full and the offertory of £8 8s. 4d. was devoted to the Building Fund.

On 13th September 1892, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone was performed by Mrs Ware, a daughter of Bishop Goodwin.  The building opened as a school on the 5th September 1893, with twenty-six scholars. It was opened by the Bishop of Carlisle. During the period of erection the boundary of Upperby parish was extended to include the new school. The foundation stone for the new Infant Department was laid on 11th April 1896, by the Right Hon. Viscount Cross, Lord Privy Seal. By 19th November 1896, the new Infants Department was ready.

This was not to be the end of the story. On 27th April 1898, the foundation stone of a new Girls’ Department was laid by the Right Hon. Sir JT Hibbert. The work of money raising continued with bazaars, gift days, donations, coffee evenings, special preachers, etc. This last building was to be the largest and best equipped of all the school buildings at the time of its opening as a Girls’ School. The centre block or Boys’ School was later enlarged by the addition of two new classrooms. In 1928 the Boys’ and Girls’ Departments were converted into a Junior and Senior Mixed School.

It is from these old buildings that the Junior School has moved into the new £100,000 Bishop Goodwin Junior School. The Infants continue to use the old premises until in two years’ time they had a new school themselves.

In 1993 the Infant and Junior School celebrated their centenaries for a full week of enjoyable events: school open days, coffee mornings, historical and photographic exhibitions, art displays, concerts and talks. Many friendships were renewed, many memories rekindled and shared. 

In 1996 the Infant School opened a purpose built nursery. 

In 2002 both schools amalgamated with Mrs Roberts-Green appointed as Headteacher of the new school which officially began in September 2002. A new uniform was launched. There was so much thought and effort which went into the design. The uniform has many historical and modern features: the design of the tie and indeed the ceiling of the Gallery are based on the wonderful ceiling in Carlisle Cathedral, the badge has both the Diocesan badge and Bishop Harvey Goodwin’s Crest and our old and new motto “Bonum Vincit Et Amor Dei”, which means Good wins within the love of god. The colours of the uniform are Gold and Royal this theme is extended throughout the building, the old junior school being the Royal building and the old Infant building being the Gold building.

In January 2010 Mrs Nuttall became Headteacher of The Bishop Harvey Goodwin School.

In April 2024 Mrs Craggs became Acting Headteacher of The Bishop Harvey Goodwin School.