They’ve arrived. Diggers have started work on the site of the old Phoenix School in Dawley, bringing down the final curtain on a story which began 70 years ago.
Coming soon - houses. Plans have been approved for over 200 homes on what is one of Dawley’s last big green expanses.
But even as the site is transformed, memories will endure of what began in September 1956 as Dawley Secondary Modern School and became Phoenix comprehensive in 1965 and, had the cards fallen differently, would have been the flagship school in what was back then Dawley New Town.
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21. Awaiting its fate
A look over the old playing fields in May 2025 towards the school site in the distance. Meanwhile plans were being drawn up to shape the future of one of Dawley's largest green areas. The answer was not really a surprise. New houses. | Toby Neal
22. A new beginning
With the old school closed forever in July 2013, students started at the new Phoenix Academy, built on the site of Paddock Mount near Dawley centre, in September 2013. Here are some of them with the principal, Neil Stonehouse. The school would controversially change its name in 2015 to Telford Langley School. | Shropshire Star archive
23. Surviving sign of past times
The old Phoenix Academy sign was still up as the redevelopment started, but it will surely be removed soon, perhaps even by the time you read this. No doubt new signs will appear, offering new homes For Sale in "Phoenix Rise." | Toby Neal