Description:

This extensive frieze is split into three sections illustrating the industries of Stoke-on-Trent and the Sciences.
On the left side four miners are depicted with the tools of their trade, a railway cart, pickaxes and a Davy lamp.
On the right side four potters, three men and a woman are depicted with a potters wheel, kiln and finished vases.
In the central panel a seated female figure in Classical dress holds a book open on her lap possibly representing Learning, a child stands at her side. On her left and right sides stand two female figures, beside them are chemistry apparatus and a set of scales respectively.

The building, designed in a Neo-Classical style, also has several sculptural garlands and cartouches on the main façade.

Background:

Jointly funded by Stoke-on-Trent County Borough and Staffordshire County Council, the building was designed by the architects for the education committees of the two authorities, John Hutchings and S.B. Ashworth. It housed the Central School of Science and Technology, where pottery, mining and general science were taught from 1914.
The building was opened by the Hon. J.A. Pease MP, President of the Board of Education. A local newspaper report mentions that the frieze is contemporary with the building (Staffordshire Sentinel, 20 April 1914).

The frieze is entirely suited to the building's original function as a school where pottery, mining and general science were taught.