Hornsey, including Highgate: Education

EDUCATION.

From 1791 occasional payments were made for teaching children in the workhouse to read and write. (fn. 1) Until the early 19th century, however, the poor received regular education only at Highgate, where Sir Roger Cholmley's free school, founded in 1565, catered for 40 local boys. (fn. 2) A late17th-century school, to be supported by ladies' subscriptions, proved short-lived but a girls' charity school survived from c. 1719. (fn. 3) The master of the free school taught private pupils in 1819. (fn. 4) In that year his school was enlarged, with aid from the National Society, (fn. 5) and there were also boys' and girls' National schools at Hornsey, presumably of recent foundation. The parish, with a population of c. 4,000, had 170 places at four schools to support a claim that the poor possessed the means of education. There were also two day-academies and about a dozen boarding schools, (fn. 6) most of them at Highgate. (fn. 7)

From 1829 Cholmley's school was allowed to charge for extra subjects, so beginning its transformation, as Highgate School, into the modern public school. St. Michael's National school was built near by in compensation, and it soon absorbed the girls' charity school. (fn. 8) In 1835 the new school took 98 pupils and three nonconformist Sunday schools an additional 85, while 365 attended 20 private establishments. (fn. 9) A National school opened at Muswell Hill in 1850 and British schools at Highgate by 1854 and Hornsey in 1865. Evening classes were started at the National schools in Highgate (fn. 10) and Muswell Hill (fn. 11) in 1856 and at a room in North Hill by Highgate Congregational church in 1868. (fn. 12) From 1861 Roman Catholic children from Highgate could attend St. Joseph's schools, on the Islington side of the boundary, (fn. 13) but Cholmley's foundation grew too expensive for the lower middle class, for whom a 'semi-classical or commercial dayschool' was needed. (fn. 14) A small offshoot of St. Joseph's was established at Crouch End in 1871 and another National school, Holy Innocents', arose from a rebuilding of 1872. In South Hornsey detached, a day-school opened in 1868 at a Sunday school built by Milton Road Congregational church. Children from there also went to National schools attached to the churches of St. Matthias and St. Faith, in Stoke Newington. (fn. 15)

A school board for the whole parish was formed amid general agreement in 1874, after a rising population in South Hornsey combined with decisions to close the British schools to threaten a deficiency of some 1,600 places. The board, initially of nine members headed by the rector, met at Southwood Lane. (fn. 16) Its most urgent problem was in South Hornsey detached, where Milton Congregational school was about to close: the London board refused to help pay for new accommodation, the Education Department opposed the choice of any site which might affect Stoke Newington's schools, and land had to be compulsorily purchased. T. Chatfeild Clarke was appointed architect in 1876 and building started at Crouch End and Highgate, as well as in South Hornsey. After charges of profiteering, several members pledged to economy were elected to the board in 1877. They took control by forcing resignations and were themselves accused of proposing a general reduction in salaries and the employment of unqualified teachers, and of suppressing the fact that 478 South Hornsey children attended elementary schools outside the parish. (fn. 17) In 1880 a more liberal board was returned, of eleven members and with H. R. Williams as chairman.

In 1881 there were 4,602 children aged three to fourteen, almost half of them in South Hornsey, and 3,917 places, of which 2,000 were at the board's, 1,447 at the National, and 470 at private schools. The figures excluded the rapidly growing districts of Finsbury Park and Stroud Green, partially served by sixteen private establishments, (fn. 18) where middleclass families around Oakfield Road opposed any public elementary school. (fn. 19) Similar hostility was shown on the Harringay Park estate, where purchasers were not told by the British Land Co. that the board as early as 1883 had bought a site between Falkland and Frobisher roads. Attacked by builders and householders in both areas and by the vicars of St. Paul's and Holy Trinity, the board wavered throughout the 1880s. Meanwhile the problem of 'border children' grew worse: Tottenham had over 100 Hornsey pupils in 1889 (fn. 20) and the London board, which refused admission to 200 in 1892, prompted the Education Department to remonstrate with Hornsey. (fn. 21)

Deficiencies near the eastern boundary were largely met during the 1890s with the building of Harringay, Stroud Green, and Campsbourne schools. By 1900 there were vacancies at Highgate and Muswell Hill, although places were still short at Harringay. Stroud Green school had been sited well south of Oakfield Road, to serve Brownswood Park in the peninsular part of South Hornsey. The board therefore opposed the transfer of that part, with the detached portions farther east, to London in 1899. At the same time Hornsey received the outlying portion of Clerkenwell at Muswell Hill. (fn. 22)

Secondary education for the poor was provided in 1890 only at denominational halls in Stroud Green. (fn. 23) In 1882, however, H. R. Williams had suggested that the district might support a higher grade school, (fn. 24) as residents soon confirmed, (fn. 25) and in 1888 his retirement had been commemorated by a scholarship tenable at a secondary school. (fn. 26) There was also a proposal to devote Roger Draper's charity to technical education. (fn. 27) Hornsey National schools were 'upper-grade' in 1899, when Col. J. W. Bird conveyed £1,500 in trust to support scholarships there. (fn. 28) The board itself in its final months began to build a higher elementary school and a special instruction school next to its new South Harringay school. (fn. 29) Truants were sent to the Bath industrial school until in 1884 the board joined Tottenham and Edmonton in establishing the North London Truants' industrial school at Walthamstow, (fn. 30) where 169 Hornsey boys had gone by 1900. Land for a polytechnic was offered by the board to Middlesex county council. (fn. 31) From 1904 the Hornsey educational foundation offered 12-16 exhibitions for boys and girls at technical schools. The exhibitions, in wide demand, (fn. 32) were normally tenable outside Hornsey but in 1926, in spite of objections that they should be restricted to trade schools, they were extended to special courses at Hornsey council schools. (fn. 33) It was decided to abandon them in 1933 and plans to assist technical or commercial schools with a substantial scientific curriculum and to pay pupils' incidental expenses (fn. 34) were embodied in a Scheme of 1937. (fn. 35)

Hornsey became a Part III authority, responsible for elementary education, under the Act of 1902. The board's successor, the education committee, met from 1903 until 1920 at no. 206 Stapleton Hall Road. (fn. 36) The committee took pride in relatively small classes, taught only by qualified teachers with good salaries. (fn. 37) It vainly sought responsibility for secondary education in 1904 (fn. 38) and conducted its own census into the needs of children beyond the age of 15 in 1905-6. (fn. 39) Finding that provision was dependent on private schools, Hornsey co-operated closely with Middlesex in taking over and enlarging the poorer ones. (fn. 40) Funds from the Pauncefort charity were available from 1903 to support three, later five, girls at secondary schools (fn. 41) and a further income was derived from the Hornsey educational foundation. (fn. 42) Advanced courses were introduced at elementary schools, Stroud Green and South Harringay, in 1920 (fn. 43) and extended in 1923. (fn. 44) By the late 1920s between 25 and 30 per cent of Hornsey's children received secondary education. The proportion exceeded that aimed at for Middlesex as a whole, (fn. 45) partly because many children were educated privately. Over 7,000 pupils attended public elementary schools c. 1932, when there were c. 2,000 at six secondary schools and a similar number at private schools. Most elementary schools had been organized into senior and junior sections and nine offered commercial and practical courses to senior pupils. (fn. 46) The county council supported Hornsey School of Art from 1904 (fn. 47) and four evening institutes in the 1930s. (fn. 48)

Under the Act of 1944, Hornsey became an 'excepted district'. (fn. 49) After further building and amalgamation the education committee in 1963 was responsible for 23 primary schools, of which 6 were for juniors and infants combined, 6 secondary modern schools, and 3 grammar schools. Five of the primary schools and one secondary school were Voluntary Aided, and one primary and one grammar school were Voluntary Controlled. (fn. 50) The 10,500 children in state schools included c. 1,500 immigrants, of whom over a third were Cypriot and a quarter West Indian; nearly a quarter of the infants were immigrants, mostly at Crouch End, Harringay, and Stroud Green. (fn. 51) The Hornsey parochial charities (educational and vocational foundation) was established in 1955, out of the educational foundation and the apprenticing charities. By 1960 it had an income of over £4,000, devoted to exhibitions for higher education and assisting institutions not provided by the local authority. (fn. 52) Applications increased from 1964, until by 1975 grants to individuals exceeded £1,000 and those to institutions were £4,300, divided mainly between Harringay boys' club, the Y.M.C.A., and Church of England schools. (fn. 54)

From 1965 Hornsey was joined with Tottenham and Wood Green in Haringey L.B., which reorganized secondary education on comprehensive lines in 1967. (fn. 55) In 1975 the former borough contained 11 schools for infants, 11 for juniors, and 5 for infants and juniors together, and 5 secondary schools. (fn. 56)

Elementary schools founded before 1874. (fn. 57)

The Ladies' school or hospital at Highgate was described in 1680 by its founder, William Blake, as a 'charity school', (fn. 58) apparently the earliest use of that term. (fn. 59) Blake was a London vintner, who bought the old banqueting house annexed to Arundel House. (fn. 60) He published an architect's engraving (fn. 61) and later drew a detailed bird's-eye view (fn. 62) of his proposed school, on the site of Old Hall and no. 16 South Grove; his own house stood farther west, opposite Dorchester House, which he acquired as accommodation for girls. In the event he built only a house (fn. 63) on the green, behind the Flask, began to fill it with 40 fatherless boys from Highgate, Hornsey, and Hampstead, and in 1679 asked some noble ladies and rich merchants' wives to contribute to the first year's costs. Pupils were clothed as at London's Bluecoat school; apart from reading and writing, the boys would learn painting, gardening, accounts, and navigation, and the girls domestic crafts. A public appeal was launched in 1680, (fn. 64) shortly before the purchase of Dorchester House with help from Sir Francis Pemberton and William Ashurst. Six London vestries promised to send children and in 1683 the school was described as famous, (fn. 65) but it lacked local support and foundered through family hostility and the indifference of fashionable subscribers. (fn. 66) In 1682 Blake was imprisoned for debt in Newgate, whence he issued a vain appeal (fn. 67) in 1685. His own house had been sold to Ashurst and Dorchester House had passed to Pemberton, together with nos. 1-6 the Grove, which had been built to secure an income for the school and remained its only memorial. (fn. 68)

Highgate girls' charity school was founded by the governors of the free school, who had chosen 24 girls and appointed a mistress by 1719. (fn. 69) Among the governors was Edward Pauncefort, who soon built a classroom and a house for the mistress in the middle of his row of alms-houses in Southwood Lane and who, by will dated 1723, ordered the purchase of land worth £60, to provide £30 a year for the alms-people, £10 for the reader at Highgate chapel, and the residue for the school. No land was bought and the school received only £5 p.a. from stock paid for by Pauncefort's heir under a decree of 1751, when the other beneficiaries enjoyed their full payments. The school saved enough from contributions to buy £1,000 stock but sold it in 1812 to meet the debts of Pauncefort's charity, which thereafter paid a dividend from the general fund. In 1819 the school's income was £112, of which £77 came from an annual sermon. Twenty-six girls were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and plain work but only 20 were also clothed. (fn. 70) There were still 26 pupils in 1843, (fn. 71) shortly before the institution was absorbed in St. Michael's schools. The school-house survived, with the alms-houses, in 1976.

St. Mary's or Hornsey National schools, for 60 boys and 55 girls in 1835, (fn. 72) may have originated in a girls' establishment founded in 1800. (fn. 73) By 1819 there was a school for boys, supported by subscriptions totalling £70 a year, and another for girls, supported by £90 and by £45 from their needlework. (fn. 74) The boys' school stood on the north side of Priory Road and was ½ mile from the girls', (fn. 75) built by 1815 (fn. 76) and rebuilt in 1832 (fn. 77) in Tottenham Lane on former glebe land. An infants' school was opened near the girls' in 1848, (fn. 78) raising the total accommodation to 210, and a government grant was made to all three schools from 1849. (fn. 79) In 1850, after enlargement, the boys' school was reported to be much improved and the girls' to be excellent. (fn. 80) Combined attendance was 224 in 1865 and 266 in 1872, (fn. 81) before the opening of new buildings for the boys in 1873 (fn. 82) and infants in 1884, (fn. 83) both in High Street, and extensions to the girls' school. There were places for 300 boys, 235 girls, and 250 infants by 1890 (fn. 84) and vacancies, notably among the infants, in 1906 and 1919. All three departments were classed as upper-grade schools by 1899 (fn. 85) but the description was abandoned in 1904 and they were regarded as one school from 1905. (fn. 86) Both boys and girls used a building which opened with 428 places in High Street in 1929, whereupon accommodation for 240 infants was provided in Tottenham Lane. (fn. 87) The rebuilding was paid for largely by the grocer David Greig, a former pupil, who in 1932 endowed a trust fund. (fn. 88) Seniors and juniors were separated in High Street in 1953 and the juniors took over the whole site in 1964, on the dispersal of the senior girls and removal of the boys to St. David's school in Rectory Gardens. St. David's joined St. Katharine's in 1976 and St. Mary's junior school took over Rectory Gardens, leaving the High Street buildings to be demolished. Meanwhile St. Mary's infants' school moved to Church Lane in 1971, the Tottenham Lane buildings also being demolished. Both schools were Voluntary Aided in 1976, when there were 220 juniors and 209 full-time infants on the rolls. (fn. 89)

St. Michael's National school, Highgate, (fn. 90) started with classes in a room rented from Cholmley's school. A school-house, similarly leased, was built in 1833 next to the alms-houses in Southwood Lane, with classrooms for c. 100 boys and 100 girls. (fn. 91) In 1839 an infants' school, holding c. 125, was erected at the corner of Castle Yard. Voluntary contributions and school pence provided a total income of £207 in 1848. (fn. 92) On the school's move in 1852 its old premises were leased out by Cholmley's school and by 1885 those in Southwood Lane were houses known as nos. 1-3 School Place. (fn. 93)

St. Michael's school was transformed through local enthusiasm for the 'industrial' system, stimulated in 1850 by Harry Chester of South Grove, assistant secretary to the Privy Council committee on education, and the Revd. T. H. Causton. Subscribers included the bishop of London, Miss BurdettCoutts, and Lord Mansfield, and Chester secured an unprecedentedly large government grant. (fn. 94) Premises in North Road, designed by Anthony Salvin with accommodation for 150 boys, 120 girls, and 150 infants, (fn. 95) were opened in 1852; three teachers' houses and twelve dormitories were included and 4 a. were reserved for a farm. (fn. 96) It was hoped that the curriculum, to include husbandry for boys and domestic training for girls, would encourage the poor to keep their children at school. St. Michael's National and Industrial schools were managed by a distinguished committee and continued in the 1850s to be a showplace. Almost immediately, however, there were arguments over teaching dissenters' children the catechism, (fn. 97) which led to the establishment of a rival British school. From the 1860s the farming side was reduced: idealism waned, practical experience was lacking, parents demanded a more conventional education, and the government eventually ceased to subsidize 'industrial work'. Later there were many vacancies, since accommodation was for 505 in 1880-1, (fn. 98) 602 in 1898, and 656 in 1906, when the attendances were 341, 401, and 396. The school, however, took some children from the St. Pancras side of Highgate until 1906. (fn. 99) It was reorganized into senior and junior mixed departments in 1922, with total accommodation for 430 and an attendance of 304, and then into junior mixed and infants' departments, with 364 places and 172 pupils in 1938. (fn. 100) St. Michael's was later given Voluntary Aided status and enlarged to hold 437 pupils on the roll in 1975, (fn. 101) when part of it still occupied Salvin's grey-brick, stonedressed buildings.

St. James's National school, Muswell Hill, (fn. 102) was built and opened in 1850. It stood in Fortis Green near the corner with Tetherdown, (fn. 103) on land given by the bishop of London. The building was designed by Salvin and intended for infants who would later go to Hornsey National schools. By 1858, however, when the income came mainly from voluntary contributions and weekly pence, 58 infants and older girls were taught by an uncertificated mistress. (fn. 104) Older boys followed and by 1870 St. James's took 100 of Muswell Hill's 164 children aged 5 to 13, while Hornsey took 21. Enlargements raised the accommodation to 124 by 1878 (fn. 105) and 292 by 1898, although attendances reached only 88 and 144. There was temporary overcrowding in 1912 and reduced accommodation, for 269, by 1919. St. James's was reorganized as a primary school, for pupils aged 5 to 11, after extensions in 1931. It moved to Woodside Avenue in 1968 and was Voluntary Aided, with 220 children on the roll, in 1975. The old buildings appeared unaltered from the front in 1950, except for bomb damage to a spire, and were demolished in 1969. (fn. 106)

Highgate British school was founded in 1852, (fn. 107) as a result of nonconformist disillusion with St. Michael's, and by 1854 received a government grant for a certificated master. (fn. 108) In 1859, when the treasurer was James Yates, the school occupied cramped premises in Southwood Lane, with 85 boys and 87 girls on the roll. It took over the old Congregational chapel in 1860 (fn. 109) and had a headmaster, an assistant, and two mistresses in 1870. (fn. 110) Average attendance was 140 in 1873, (fn. 111) shortly before its replacement by Highgate board school. (fn. 112)

Hornsey British school was built in 1864 and opened in 1865, largely through the efforts of Russell Maynard, a member of Park chapel and active in the British and Foreign Schools Society. The schoolrooms, for boys, girls, and infants, adjoined the chapel on the site of the later Corbin hall. The school was supported by voluntary contributions and pence in 1870 (fn. 113) but received a parliamentary grant from 1871. Between 1871 and 1873 the average attendance rose from 94 to 177. (fn. 114) Hornsey school board took over the premises in 1875 and later moved the pupils to Park Road. (fn. 115)

Crouch End Roman Catholic, or St. Mary's, school opened in 1871 next to the new chapel and priest's house in Tottenham Lane. It was an old building, leased from the Passionists of St. Joseph's Retreat and consisting of a schoolroom for boys and girls and another for infants. The income came from voluntary contributions and pence and the management was like that of St. Joseph's schools. (fn. 116) The school received no parliamentary grant and apparently was short-lived.

Holy Innocents' National school was the name later given to the old St. Mary's infants' school, which was rebuilt in 1872 before the opening of Holy Innocents' church. (fn. 117) It was for infants only and received a parliamentary grant by 1888, when there were 127 places. (fn. 118) The school was rarely full, with 114 places in 1893, (fn. 119) but in 1907 its proposed closure was resisted by the managers, who stressed its benefits to the poor of Hornsey Vale. From 1919 there were 101 places and in 1922 control passed to the education committee. The premises, by that time overcrowded, were thereafter leased from the trustees, the vicar of Holy Innocents' and the archdeacon of Middlesex, (fn. 120) until their replacement by Rokesly school in 1934. (fn. 121) The core of the old brick building, on the corner of Rokesly Avenue and Tottenham Lane, was used as a public convenience and shelter in 1976.

Elementary schools founded 1874-1903.

Crouch End board school (fn. 122) moved from the former British school to Park Road in 1877. The accommodation, originally for 602, (fn. 123) rose to 984 by 1884 (fn. 124) and 1,442 in 1888, (fn. 125) but had fallen to 1,259 by 1898, after transfers to the new Stroud Green and Campsbourne schools. After renovation and the removal of older girls to Campsbourne, Crouch End school reopened in 1935 with places for 400 mixed juniors and 360 senior boys. (fn. 126) Under the Act of 1944 the boys formed a separate secondary modern school, later absorbed by Priory Vale. (fn. 127) Crouch End junior school closed in 1975, when it had 110 pupils on the roll.

Highgate board school, which leased the former British school in 1875, moved to a new building in North Hill in 1877. (fn. 128) The old premises were thereupon sold by Highgate Congregational chapel to Cholmley's school, (fn. 129) to become laboratories. (fn. 130) Extensions, the largest being in 1893-4, (fn. 131) raised the accommodation from 213 in 1880 (fn. 132) to 877, in mixed and infants' departments, by 1898. In 1919 there were only senior and junior mixed departments, which were progressively reduced to accommodate 592 by 1936, when further reorganization produced 464 places for juniors and 192 for infants. North Hill junior and infants' schools remained at North Hill in 1975, with 220 and 130 children on their respective rolls.

Harringay board school, between Falkland and Frobisher roads, opened in 1893. It accommodated 1,475 boys, girls, and infants in 1898, when they occupied separate floors and when there was also a temporary mixed department for 480, making it the largest of Hornsey's schools. (fn. 133) The school, called North Harringay from 1903, (fn. 134) accommodated only 1,160 by 1932 and was reorganized into junior mixed and infants' schools in 1934; senior girls were transferred, while senior boys continued to use the top floor as a secondary modern school, later absorbed into Priory Vale. (fn. 135) In 1976 the upper floors of the board school building were occupied by North Harringay junior school, with 411 on the roll, and the ground floor and extensions by the infants', with 258 enrolled.

Stroud Green board school opened in temporary buildings in Stroud Green Road in 1894. From 1896 it used a new building in Woodstock Road, (fn. 136) with accommodation for 1,351 boys, girls, and infants on separate floors. (fn. 137) There were 1,052 places by 1932, when the school was reorganized into a senior mixed or secondary modern school with 346 places, a junior mixed with 408, and an infants' with 344. The seniors were later absorbed into Bishopswood, leaving the board's building to Stroud Green junior and infants' schools, (fn. 138) with 320 and 180 children on their rolls in 1975.

Campsbourne board school, Boyton Road, opened in 1897. It consisted of a building for 450 boys and 450 girls and of another for infants. (fn. 139) The school was full in 1906 but by 1919 the number of places had been reduced to 1,373 and by 1932 to 1,176. After reorganization in 1935 (fn. 140) there was a senior girls' school for 320, later renamed Clemence Cave school, a junior mixed school for 420, and an infants' for 400. (fn. 141) In 1975 the junior school had 322 pupils enrolled and the infants' 208.

Elementary schools founded 1903-1945.

South Harringay council school, planned by the board, opened in 1904. (fn. 142) It consisted of a building with 600 places for junior mixed pupils and another for 300 infants, on a site between Mattison and Pemberton roads which also housed new higher elementary and special instruction schools. (fn. 143) After 1919 the accommodation was for only 400 juniors and 240 infants, until reorganization in 1934 created a junior mixed and infants' school for 340, (fn. 144) while senior girls used the old higher elementary school block facing Pemberton Road. When the senior girls moved into Hornsey grammar school in 1952, their block was occupied by some of the juniors, who shared their own building with the infants. In 1974 the infants took over the Pemberton Road block, leaving the juniors the whole of the old junior school and part of the original infants' school. (fn. 145) There were 339 children on the roll of the junior school in 1976 and 263 on that of the infants' in 1975.

Muswell Hill council school was built and opened in Alexandra Place in 1913, when a few children were transferred there from St. James's school. (fn. 146) It accommodated 88 in the juniors' department and 132 in the infants' in 1927, shortly before its reorganization into a junior mixed and infants' school for 200, and was described as temporary until after the Second World War. (fn. 147) Junior and infants' schools, with 411 and 184 pupils enrolled, occupied the old site in 1976.

St. Gilda's Roman Catholic school, Dickenson Road, opened in 1915. It remained a private school for mixed children of all ages, under the Sisters of Christian Instruction, until 1971. Rebuilding was taking place in 1975, when there were 260 juniors on the roll. (fn. 148)

Coldfall council school opened in 1928 to serve the new Coldfall housing estate north-west of Muswell Hill. (fn. 149) The two-storeyed building, for 440 senior pupils and 400 juniors and infants, (fn. 150) was to take a few children from Friern Barnet. (fn. 151) There were 520 seniors by 1936 but in 1954 the upper storey was left to juniors alone on the opening of William Grimshaw school. (fn. 152) In 1975 Coldfall junior school, with 185 children enrolled, occupied the upper storey and the infants' school, with 192 including a nursery, remained on the lower floor.

Rokesly council school, on the south corner of Rokesly Avenue and Hermiston Avenue, opened for 480 infants in 1934. (fn. 153) An adjoining junior school for 480, on a restricted site and with a circular assembly hall, (fn. 154) opened in 1953. (fn. 155) In 1975 there were 397 juniors and 280 infants on the rolls.

Primary schools founded after 1945. (fn. 156)

Tetherdown junior mixed and infants' school opened in 1947, in buildings formerly used by Tollington preparatory school. In 1958 it moved to the old Tollington girls' school in Grand Avenue, where in 1975 there were 270 children on the roll.

St. Aidan's junior mixed and infants' school, Albany Road, was formed in 1948 when senior girls moved from St. Aidan's, formerly Stroud Green and Hornsey, high school. A new building was opened in 1972 but the old yellow-brick hall was retained in 1975, when St. Aidan's was Voluntary Aided and had 215 children on the roll.

St. Peter-in-Chains Roman Catholic school for infants was open by 1959 (fn. 157) in Elm Grove, close to St. Gilda's junior school. Originally independent, it was Voluntary Aided in 1969 (fn. 158) and had 206 infants on the roll in 1975.

Our Lady of Muswell Roman Catholic school opened in 1959 in the former buildings of St. Martin's convent school, Page's Lane. It was a Voluntary Aided junior mixed and infants' school, with 350 children on the roll in 1975.

Coleridge school opened in new buildings in Crescent Road in 1971. Juniors and infants formed separate schools from 1972 and had 240 and 190 full-time pupils on their rolls in 1975.

Secondary and senior schools founded before 1967.

A grammar school for 'sons of parents of limited means' occupied an iron room adjoining Holy Trinity church, Stroud Green, in 1890. It had a junior department in 1909, when prospectuses were available at the Vicarage. A Baptist grammar school used the Victoria hall, Stapleton Hall Road, also in 1890. (fn. 159)

The Stationers' Company's school opened in 1861 at Bolt Court, Fleet Street (London). (fn. 160) In 1895 it moved to 2 a. in Mayfield Road, as a grammar school for boys aged 8 to 16, (fn. 161) and in 1906 it accommodated 400. (fn. 162) From 1909 it was managed by a committee appointed by the company and the county and borough councils, (fn. 163) which approved the opening of a preparatory department in 1913 (fn. 164) and built extensions in 1912 and 1939. Its status changed from Voluntary Aided to Voluntary Controlled in 1966, a year before its reorganization as a comprehensive school. (fn. 165)

St. Aidan's school, as Stroud Green and Hornsey high school for girls, was opened by the Church Schools' Co. in 1887. It occupied a cramped site, on the corner of Stapleton Hall and Albany roads, and had no playground in 1906, when there were 150 places and 111 pupils. The school, subsidized by the company to supplement the fees, (fn. 166) was taken over by local governors in 1919 and grant aided by Middlesex from 1928. (fn. 167) It became an elementary school in 1948 on the removal of older girls to Hornsey high school. (fn. 168)

Hornsey high school for girls originated in the private Stroud Green high school, founded c. 1887 by Mrs. Mills-Carver and comprising a new building at the corner of Addington and Oakfield roads, with its grounds backing those of a teachers' and boarders' house at the corner of Stapleton Hall and Oakfield roads. In 1906 there were 150 places and 130 pupils of all ages, including six boarders whose payments were needed for solvency. Competition with the Church Schools' Co.'s establishment was mutually damaging but plans for amalgamation failed. In 1908 Stroud Green high school was taken over by the county (fn. 169) as a girls' counterpart to the Stationers' school and in 1915 it moved to new buildings in Weston Park. (fn. 170) Hornsey high school was reorganized as part of the comprehensive Hornsey school for girls and in 1972 its former premises passed to the Stationers' school. (fn. 171)

Tollington grammar school opened in 1902 as a branch of Tollington Park college, Islington. A building was erected in Tetherdown, in the grounds of an older house inhabited by the joint proprietor, W. Campbell Brown. (fn. 172) There were 225 fee-paying boys aged 7 to 16 in 1903 (fn. 173) and, after extensions, 293 by 1906. (fn. 174) The school was taken over by Middlesex, as a Muswell Hill counterpart to the Stationers' school, in 1919 and a preparatory department was then opened. (fn. 175) Tollington girls' school, in Grand Avenue by 1911, (fn. 176) was also acquired (fn. 177) and continued as a separate grammar school until joined with the boys' in a four-storeyed block on part of the Tetherdown playing fields in 1958. (fn. 178) The girls' former premises were taken over by Tetherdown primary school and later the new grammar school block became part of Creighton comprehensive school.

Hornsey county school opened in 1904, as Hornsey higher elementary school, on land which had been acquired by the board east of South Harringay school. It accommodated 340 mixed pupils in 1906, when average attendance was 127, and changed its name on passing to the county council in 1908. (fn. 179) The school was converted from a grammar to a girls' secondary modern in 1951 (fn. 180) and was absorbed into the comprehensive Hornsey school for girls in 1967.

William Grimshaw school opened as a mixed secondary modern school in Creighton Avenue in 1955. (fn. 181) From 1961 it offered extended courses, attended by older pupils from other secondary modern schools. (fn. 182) It was amalgamated into Creighton comprehensive school in 1967.

Clemence Cave secondary modern school for girls was so named in 1955. (fn. 183) It stood in Boyton Road and previously had been Campsbourne girls' secondary modern school. From 1967 it formed part of Hornsey school for girls.

Bishopswood school opened on part of Crouch End playing fields in Montenotte Road in 1961. It accommodated 680 mixed pupils and replaced Stroud Green secondary modern school. (fn. 184) Bishopswood was absorbed into Highgate Wood comprehensive school in 1967.

Priory Vale school was formed in 1962 out of North Harringay and Crouch End boys' secondary modern schools. It was divided into eastern and western halves, since pupils continued to use the old board schools' premises in Falkland and Park roads (fn. 185) until Priory Vale was absorbed into Highgate Wood and other schools in 1967.

St. David's Church of England school opened in 1964 in new buildings on the site of Hornsey Rectory. (fn. 186) Plans for it to replace St. Mary's mixed secondary modern school were altered for it to take boys only in order that the new London Borough of Haringey, which would also contain St. Katharine's in Tottenham, should have two single-sex Anglican schools. It was therefore renamed, partly in honour of David Greig whose fund had made possible the rebuilding of a denominational school. (fn. 187) St. David's, designed for some 300 pupils, became a comprehensive school in 1967. (fn. 188)

Comprehensive schools founded after 1967. (fn. 189)

After the Stationers' Company's school had been reorganized in 1967, the company continued to appoint a third of the governors. Juniors used an annexe in Falkland Road (fn. 190) until the former Hornsey high school buildings were added to the Stationers' site in 1972. There were 1,325 boys enrolled in 1975.

Hornsey school for girls was formed in 1967 out of Hornsey high, Hornsey county, and Clemence Cave schools. It used Hornsey high and Clemence Cave schools' premises, with huts and the halls of Ferme Park Baptist church, before moving to a new building in Inderwick Road in 1971. There were 1,400 girls on the roll in 1975.

Highgate Wood school in 1967 replaced Bishopswood and Priory Vale lower schools, whose premises it thereafter used. There were 1,132 boys and girls on the roll in 1975.

Creighton school in 1967 replaced William Grimshaw and Tollington schools, whose buildings thereafter constituted the north and south wings. There were 1,498 mixed pupils on the roll in 1975.

St. David's Church of England school, with 330 boys in 1975, continued in Rectory Gardens until 1976. It was then absorded into the new mixed school of St. David and St. Katharine, whereupon the buildings were taken over by St. Mary's junior school.

The school of St. David and St. Katharine opened in new buildings in St. Mary's Road in 1976, when it replaced St. David's school and St. Katharine's, Tottenham. It started with 750 boys and girls, whose numbers were to rise to 1,320 by 1980.

Special school. (fn. 191)

Greenfields school, for maladjusted children, occupied new buildings in Coppetts Road from 1975. The school had opened in White Hart Lane as the New Day school in 1972 (fn. 192) and afterwards had used the former Page Green board school in Broad Lane, Tottenham. (fn. 193) There were 40 boys and girls, aged 7 to 16, on the roll in 1976.

Hornsey College of Art originated, as Hornsey School of Art, in private classes under Frank Swinstead. A school and residence opened in Waverley Road in 1882, (fn. 194) with government help, (fn. 195) but remained selfsupporting until 1904; thereafter the county council gradually assumed control, taking over the residential part as a school in 1907 and buying the freehold in 1925. The building, which faced a side road and in appearance had to conform with neighbouring housing, (fn. 196) was reconstructed and joined to a new extension in 1931. (fn. 197) Numbers rose from c. 60 fulltime and 200 part-time students in 1926, when Swinstead retired, to 365 full-time, 100 part-time day, and nearly 1,000 part-time evening students by 1947. (fn. 198) As the only art school in east Middlesex and a training college for teachers, the school was overcrowded by 1953. (fn. 199) After expansion at Crouch Hill had been banned, the fine art department moved to Alexandra Palace in 1964 (fn. 200) and the teachers' training department later acquired an annexe in Tottenham. (fn. 201) The school was widely known for its 'Hornsey' designs. Unrest among its students in the late 1960s was publicized in The Hornsey Affair. In 1973 the college was combined with Hendon and Enfield technical colleges to form the Middlesex Polytechnic. (fn. 202)

Private schools.

Crouch End or Hornsey (fn. 203) academy presumably opened when John Yeo of Hornsey, who kept several boarders, was licensed to teach in 1686. (fn. 204) In 1741 Jane Lovell, schoolmistress, left John Lee, apparently her assistant, the lease of property where the school was held. The wood engraver John Bewick (d. 1795) (fn. 205) taught there and the philologist John Grant (fn. 206) was tenant in 1810. W. C. Smith, Grant's successor and perhaps his associate by 1819, took foreign boys (fn. 207) and in 1844 offered an education to 40-50 young gentlemen, under a principal, four tutors, and a music teacher. (fn. 208) There were 42 pupils, aged 7 to 15, in 1851. (fn. 209) Crouch End school was said to be nearly 200 years old in 1872 (fn. 210) and still advertised in 1879, (fn. 211) but the site was sold to the Imperial Property Investment Co. in 1882. The last principal, T. Knight, moved with some pupils to Fairfield, Tottenham Lane, which was sold with the Topsfield estate in 1894, and then to the Chestnuts in Middle Lane, later replaced by Chestnut Court. (fn. 212) The original school building, with its playground on the corner of Park Road and Crouch End Broadway, (fn. 213) was described as in the Elizabethan style in 1844; the three-storeyed, weatherboarded house then stood east of a later, two-storeyed school block, with Dutch gables. The buildings had changed little by 1882, shortly before their demolition. (fn. 214) An establishment under J. Lynn was called Old Crouch Hall school for a short time after 1882. (fn. 215)

George Spragg kept a school at Hornsey in 1686 (fn. 216) but the earliest master of whom anything more is known was the calligrapher and mathematician Humphry Johnson (fl. 1713), who moved from London to teach boarders in Hornsey, where he died. (fn. 217) Many fee-paying pupils were attracted by the large houses and healthy situation of Highgate. The nonconformist Elizabeth Tutchin, widow of the pamphleteer John Tutchin, moved there from Newington Green and opened a girls' school after 1710. (fn. 218) Philippa Jeynson kept a girls' boarding school, which moved from near Hornsey Lane to Pemberton Row (later the Grove) c. 1740, (fn. 219) a schoolmaster named John Rosier occupied Englefield House in 1783, (fn. 220) and in the 1780s Messrs. Dower and Rogers offered boys a polite education at a long established academy. (fn. 221) In 1787 and 1788 John Wesley visited Miss Teulon's school on the hill, presumably Lauderdale House where he had first preached in 1782. (fn. 222) Another nonconformist, the Revd. Edward Porter, kept a school at no. 9 South Grove (Russell House) in 1799 (fn. 223) and 1801. (fn. 224)

A Jewish academy (fn. 225) had been established at Highgate by 1802 under Hyman Hurwitz, who leased no. 10 South Grove (Church House) from the antiquary John Sidney Hawkins. It had c. 100 boys in 1820 and there was thought to be nothing like it in England except at Brighton. (fn. 226) From 1810 to 1812 Hurwitz also leased the adjoining no. 9, perhaps for a short-lived girls' school kept by his sister. (fn. 227) In 1821 Hurwitz, later the first professor of Hebrew at London University, renewed his lease of no. 10 and of property to the west, abutting on Swain's Lane. He apparently did so for the benefit of his successor Leopold Neumegen, whose Jewish academy survived until 1832 (fn. 228) and perhaps until the lease expired in 1837. The premises on the west were converted into Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution in 1840 (fn. 229) and Church House, where Neumegen still lived in 1842, (fn. 230) was leased to Kilham Roberts in 1843. (fn. 231) Roberts kept a school there in 1845. (fn. 232)

By 1820 Highgate had several eminent schools. (fn. 233) Daniel Dowling, a writer on mathematics, had sought pupils in 1810 (fn. 234) and probably occupied Sir William Ashurst's old house from 1812. (fn. 235) In 1818 Dowling kept the Mansion House academy there and offered a broad liberal education, with social accomplishments and a choice of vocational and scientific courses. His boarding school moved to Hammersmith between 1826 and 1829. (fn. 236) On the north side of the green the later no. 53 South Grove had apparently been extended as a school by 1804 and from 1809 was occupied by Louis Beauvais, (fn. 237) who trained boys for the professions (fn. 238) until between 1813 and 1817. (fn. 239) Lauderdale House was a school, under Mrs. Sheldon in 1804 (fn. 240) and William Gittens in 1812 (fn. 241) and 1828. (fn. 242) South Grove seminary, later the Lawns, opened c. 1812 (fn. 243) and occupied a wing of Old Hall and a gabled building to the east. (fn. 244) It was run as a girls' finishing school by the Misses Grignon and Hull in 1832 (fn. 245) and 1845. (fn. 246)

Dr. Benjamin Duncan took over an academy c. 1814 (fn. 247) on the Bank, Highgate Hill, (fn. 248) where his advanced views were shared by his chief language teacher Joachim De Prati, a follower of Saint-Simon and former colleague of Pestalozzi. Duncan offered a broad, practical education, with no corporal punishment, and did not observe vacations and so made no extra charge for boys from the colonies. (fn. 249) On his move to Hammersmith in 1829 he was succeeded by George and Frances Kieckhofer, who by 1851 had made way for the Revd. Alfred Barrett. (fn. 250) Described as preparatory in 1845, (fn. 251) the school had 26 boys aged 7-12 in 1851 (fn. 252) and probably survived, as Highgate commercial academy and under other names, until the 1870s.

Grove House school opened in 1825 at no. 53 South Grove. It became well known as 'Fenner's' after its first principal, Zachariah Fenner, whose sister conducted a girls' school (fn. 253) and who retired in 1872. (fn. 254) The premises were bought from Nathaniel Wetherell in 1842 (fn. 255) and housed c. 40 boys, mostly boarders, in 1872 (fn. 256) and 60 in 1879. (fn. 257) The school closed in 1930 on the retirement of A. E. C. Dickinson, the third headmaster. (fn. 258)

Cromwell House (fn. 259) was a boys' boarding school in 1840 when under lease to William Addison, who had taught in Highgate at least since 1826. (fn. 260) In 1843 he was succeeded by the Revd. Gerard van de Linde, an anglicized Dutchman who helped to organize the first national educational exhibition in 1854 and whose school was known as the 'Collège francais'. Van de Linde prepared boys for the professions and had 31 pupils, aged 11 and over, in 1851. (fn. 261) His widow sold the school in 1858 to the Revd. Henry Stretton, who, after a fire in 1865, (fn. 262) moved to St. Albans in 1866.

In the early 19th century the popularity of Highgate probably restricted private education elsewhere. At Muswell Hill part of the Rowes' old property was sold in 1810 as Bath House academy, lately occupied by a schoolmaster named Hunt. (fn. 263) At Crouch End, in addition to the boys' academy, the Misses Lobb kept boarders and a day-school in 1826 (fn. 264) and Elizabeth Lobb still had 32 girls, aged from 9 to 16, in 1851. (fn. 265) Highgate had 12 private schools in 1826 and 19, excluding fee-paying pupils of the master of Cholmley's school, by 1832, (fn. 266) whereas the rest of the parish had merely the 2 Crouch End establishments. There were 2 new seminaries at Crouch End by 1845, when Highgate's 14 schools included only 5 that had existed in 1830. (fn. 267)

The spread of housing produced a more even distribution of schools. Among the longest lived was Oakfield, a preparatory school opened at Crouch End in 1859 and with 40 boarders and 40 day-boys in 1879. (fn. 268) By 1890 it had moved from Hornsey Lane to Haslemere Road, (fn. 269) where there were 108 boys in 1911 and it closed in 1933. (fn. 270) Alexandra Park college, a boarding and day-school which stressed science and modern languages, opened in Middle Lane in 1868 (fn. 271) and survived in 1890. (fn. 272) Early schools in Stroud Green included Hornsey Rise college, Victoria Road, in 1872, Rothbury House college, for day-boys, in 1879, (fn. 273) and Victoria college, Florence Road, in the 1880s. (fn. 274) At Highgate boarders and dayboys attended Sutherland House, on the Bank, in the 1870s. (fn. 275) All Saints' Middle Class school, for girls and small boys, was opened in North Hill by the vicar in 1876 (fn. 276) and survived in 1890. (fn. 277) St. Mary's ladies' day-school was opened in 1886 by the Sisters of the Union of the Sacred Hearts at Lilford House, Cholmeley Park. In 1921 it moved to Hornsey Lane, where it became a junior school in 1944 and, as Birklands, continued until 1961. (fn. 278) The house in Cholmeley Park, no. 53, served as a nursing home until at least 1939. (fn. 279)

Channing House, (fn. 280) the most successful of Highgate's 19th-century private foundations, opened in Sutherland House in 1885 under the Revd. Robert Spears, (fn. 281) later the first minister of Highgate Unitarian church. The school was endowed by the Misses Matilda and Emily Sharpe, primarily for the daughters of Unitarian ministers, and named after William Ellery Channing. Private benefactions assisted six pupils. Numbers rose to c. 90 after a year and reached c. 125 by 1925, by which date barely half of the girls were boarders. Ivy House, higher up the hill, was leased for dormitories and offices in 1885. The school also leased the semidetached West View, immediately below Sutherland House, in 1885 and extended the frontage of both in 1887. West View was bought in 1901, followed by Slingley, the southerly half of the pair, in 1921 and by the neighbouring Hampden House in 1925 and Arundel House, forming another pair, in 1930. Fairseat, leased with 2 a., was used from 1926. A hall was opened in 1927 (fn. 282) and the school known simply as Channing from 1931. The main frontage was further extended in 1954, when Haigh House replaced Hampden and Arundel houses, which had been demolished in 1945, and the bombed Betchworth House. A junior school opened in 1943 at no. 12 Southwood Lane, which was sold in 1955, and later occupied Fairseat. There were 250 girls in 1950, few of them Unitarians, and 390, aged 5 to 18. in 1975. (fn. 283)

The new suburb of Stroud Green had at least 21 private schools in 1890, (fn. 284) including the forerunners of St. Aidan's and Hornsey high schools and the two denominational grammar schools for boys. (fn. 285) The Anglo-French high school, established c. 1884, had 100 pupils of all ages in Ferme Park Road in 1889 (fn. 286) and opened a girls' branch in Ridge Road in 1890. Stapleton Hall school for girls, at no. 54 and later also at no. 34 Stapleton Hall Road, lasted from 1898 or earlier until 1935. (fn. 287) There were a further six schools in Harringay and many more in Finsbury Park, although some lay outside Hornsey's boundary. At the northern end of Crouch Hill by 1898 there were schools at nos. 102 and 104, called Durham House and Cecile House, no. 110, preparatory and kindergarten departments of Cecile House, and no. 112, Darra House. (fn. 288)

The number of schools in the south-east part of the parish halved between 1890 and 1908, following the spread of public education, but a new demand arose farther north. In 1890 Fortis Green had two private schools and Muswell Hill had none; in 1908 there were still the two at Fortis Green and at least seventeen at Muswell Hill, including an offshoot of Tollington Park college and a school which had been opened in Tetherdown in 1904 by the Sisters of St. Martin of Tours. (fn. 289) Frederick Newcombe, who conducted a collegiate school in Muswell Hill Road, apparently had moved from Stroud Green. (fn. 290)

Two preparatory schools opened in 1897: Byron House, in North Grove, Highgate, (fn. 291) and Norfolk House, at no. 10 Muswell Avenue. (fn. 292) The first, coeducational and attended by John Betjeman, (fn. 293) closed in 1962. (fn. 294) The second was claimed as Muswell Hill's only purpose-built school in 1910, when it had boys' and girls' departments and agreed to accommodate Tollington's preparatory pupils. (fn. 295) It contained 150 boys in 1975. (fn. 296) Crouch End college, later high school, for girls was founded in 1900 in Weston Park. (fn. 297) After periods in Fairfield Road and Middle Lane (fn. 298) it moved in 1936 to no. 125 Hornsey Lane, (fn. 299) where it accommodated girls of all ages and a kindergarten, (fn. 300) and to no. 51 Shepherd's Hill for its final year in 1973. (fn. 301) Southwood Hall was a girls' school from c. 1905 to 1930. (fn. 302) King's House school for girls, founded in 1898, (fn. 303) was in Muswell Hill Road by 1912 and survived in 1939; its premises, nos. 152 and 154, were used as a home for the blind in 1955 but stood empty in 1977. (fn. 304)

Among more recent schools was Highfield, opened at no. 1 Bloomfield Road in 1947 and with 176 boys and girls, aged 3 to 11, in 1976. (fn. 305) In 1949 no. 109 Hornsey Lane was bought for St. Aloysius's junior school, (fn. 306) which opened in 1950 and had no official connexion with St. Aloysius's college, (fn. 307) founded by the Brothers of Mercy in 1879 on the Islington side of Hornsey Lane. (fn. 308) While the college passed to the De La Salle Brothers the junior school remained under the Brothers of Mercy (fn. 309) and in 1961 it acquired no. 111, formerly the convent of the Union of the Sacred Hearts. In 1975 there were 120 children on the roll. (fn. 310) Whittingham school, originally a nursery at no. 271 Colney Hatch Lane, opened in 1952 at no. 208 Muswell Hill Road and gradually acquired nos. 206, 204, and 202. Later it took pupils to the age of 8 and, for a short time, girls to the age of 15. In 1977 there were c. 275 mixed pupils, aged 2½ to 12, on the roll. (fn. 311) Northern Heights, at the corner of North Road and Hampstead Lane, was a school of dancing in 1930; after the Second World War it was also a preparatory school (fn. 312) until the building's demolition in 1962. Shepherd's Hill school, also preparatory, closed in 1973; its former premises, no. 51, were briefly used by Crouch End college and from 1974 by St. Giles's college. (fn. 313) The former Byron House was renamed Charlotte House in 1963 by Davies's school of English. (fn. 314) There was a preparatory academy for R.A.D.A., with mixed pupils age 15-17, at no. 55 Shepherd's Hill from 1945 until 1957. (fn. 315)