When is a school not a school? When it is “a place for learning”.

Watercliffe Meadow Primary in Sheffield has adopted the new phraseology because it thinks that the word school may have negative connotations for pupils and parents.

Linda Kingdon, the head teacher, said that the change would bring the school (or place of learning) closer to real life. But critics condemned it as laughable political correctness.

Watercliffe Meadow is among scores of schools that are dropping the “Sword” from their titles to reflect their changing uses and trends in education. Ms Kingdon said that Watercliffe Meadow, which was formed from the merger of three schools, decided from an early stage not to use the word “school”.

“This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school. Instead, we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to deinstitutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life,” she said.

Richard Caborn, the local MP, is unimpressed. “I’m always open to new ideas, but the reality is education is about preparing young people to live in the real world,” he said. “I just don’t think the case has been made to drop the word school to a place of learning. I don’t know why they have done it.”

A spokeswoman for the Campaign for Plain English said that it was laughable. “This is the whole political correctness agenda. Using unfamiliar words instead of a simple one like ‘school’, will get in the way of children’s ability to learn,” she said.

Andrew Sangar, Sheffield City Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services and lifelong learning, said that as far as he was concerned Watercliffe Meadow was a school and that was how the council would continue to refer to it.

However, Watercliffe Meadow is not alone. Barnsley is in the process of replacing its 13 secondary schools with nine new “advanced learning centres”.

A spokesman said that it was part of a programme called Remaking Learning aimed at regenerating the area by “embracing all ages of learning” from preschool children to adults.

David Fann, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “This kind of change reflects the fact that schools are now expected to exploit their premises to the full 24/7, 365 days a year.”

Under the Government’s plans for extended services, all schools have until next year to ensure that child-care from 8am to 6pm is available to all pupils all year round. They can either provide it on their own premises or link up with a nearby voluntary, state or private provider. Schools are also under pressure to open their facilities to adult learners in the evenings and holidays.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (formerly the Secondary Heads Association), said that hundreds of secondary schools had also decided to call themselves colleges because it sounded more upmarket.

Professor Alan Smithers, from the University of Buckingham, said that dropping the word school was symptomatic of a reluctance to face up to hard truths. “Frankly, calling something a learning centre is likely to confuse parents and it rather diminishes the institution,” he said.

AIRS AND GRACES

Waste removal engineer Dustman

Domestic engineer Housewife

Knowledge navigator Teacher

Stock replenishment adviser Shelf stacker

Dispatch services facilitator Postman

Leisure services administrator Masseuse/masseur

Flueologist Chimney sweep

Head of verbal communications Receptionist/secretary

Environment improvement technician Cleaner

Education centre nourishment production assistant Dinner lady

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