Minchenden School was a mixed secondary school situated in

Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...

, North London, established in 1919 with 90 pupils. It merged with Arnos School in 1984.

History

The school was established in 1919 in Tottenhall Road as a mixed secondary school. In 1924, it moved to

Southgate House Southgate House is a grade II* listed building in Southgate, London. Built in the late 18th century, it was once the home of Isaac Walker, father of the Walker brothers, and later of John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence. From 1924 to 1987 it formed ...

, where it remained until 1987. The staff and pupils built an observatory. From 1960 to the early 1970s, there was an annexe in the Fox Lane school,

Palmers Green Palmers Green is a suburban area and electoral ward in North London, England, within the London Borough of Enfield. It is located within the N13 postcode district, around north of Charing Cross. It is home to the largest population of Greek Cy ...

. The annexe catered for the 1st 2 years of pupils. The school's English department was particularly strong. Head of English Douglas Barnes 1959-1966 introduced a series of important innovations in teaching methods. In 1967, Minchenden Grammar School was converted from a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

to Minchenden School, a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

, with the upper school in High Street and the lower school in Fox Lane. It was merged with Arnos School in 1984 to form Broomfield School, after the Conservative council sold the extensive playing fields to a development company to build homes, with the original Southgate House protected as a Grade I listed building. The building is now used by Durants School, having previously been used by

Southgate College Barnet and Southgate College is a further education college in North London, England. The current college was established in 2011. It has three main campuses and two other learning centres in the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough o ...

Former teachers

James Kirkup James Harold Kirkup, FRSL (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote over 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha ...

, poet

Notable alumni

* Graham Robert Allan, mathematician and an expert on

Banach algebra In mathematics, especially functional analysis, a Banach algebra, named after Stefan Banach, is an associative algebra A over the real or complex numbers (or over a non-Archimedean complete normed field) that at the same time is also a Banach ...

s, Professor of Pure Mathematics from 1970 to 1978 at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

Neville Brody Neville Brody, (born 23 April 1957) is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. He is known for his work on ''The Face'' magazine (1981–1986), ''Arena'' magazine (1987–1990), and designing record covers for artists such a ...

(born 1957), graphic designer, typographer and art director * Prof.

Harold Brookfield Harold Chillingworth Brookfield (March 9, 1926 in England - May 22, 2022 in Canberra) was a British and Australian geographer specialising in the analysis of rural development, small-scale societies, family farming, and the relationship betwee ...

(born 1926), scholar of rural development, Australian National University * Prof

Peter Clarricoats Peter John Bell Clarricoats CBE, FREng, FRS (6 April 1932 – 17 January 2020) was a British engineer, and was professor of electronic engineering at Queen Mary, University of London from 1968 to 1997. Clarricoats had begun his academic caree ...

CBE, Professor of Electronic Engineering from 1968 to 1997 at

Queen Mary and Westfield Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

, and vice-president from 1989 to 1991 of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (since 2006 the

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871, and ...

) Fellow of the Royal Society (1990) *

Nick Dunning Nick Dunning (born 1957 in London) is an English actor. He is a well known theatre actor who attended RADA (Dip Hons) 1977, where he won the Ronson Prize for Most Promising Young Actor. He has appeared on stage in the West End in London and a ...

, actor - credits include The Tudors, My Boy Jack, Alexander *

Judy Dyble Judith Aileen Dyble (pronounced ''Die-bull''; 13 February 1949 – 12 July 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, most notable for being a vocalist and a founding member of Fairport Convention and Trader Horne. In addition, she and Ian McDona ...

(1949-2020), Singer songwriter and founder member of Fairport Convention *

Irving Finkel Irving Leonard Finkel (born 1951) is a British philologist and Assyriologist. He is the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, where he specialises in c ...

(born 1951), philologist and Assyriologist *Professor Brian J Ford (born 1939), scientist, author, broadcaster and lecturer *

Lynne Franks Lynne Joanne Franks (born 16 April 1948) founded a public relations consultancy in the early 1970s and is a communications strategist, writer and spokeswoman on women's issues, sustainability and consumer lifestyles. Early life Franks was ...

(born 1948), public relations innovator *

Judy Fryd Judy Fryd (31 October 1909 – October 2000) was a British campaigner for mentally disabled children and the founder of The National Association of Parents of Backward Children, now Mencap. Throughout her life, she increased awareness around l ...

(1909–2000), political campaigner *

Hazel Genn Dame Hazel Gillian Genn, DBE, KC (Hon), FBA (born 1949) is a leading authority on civil justice whose work has had a major influence on policy-makers around the world, and is a former Dean of the Faculty of Laws and Professor of Socio-Legal Stu ...

(born 1949), legal academic *

Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens (born 18 January 1938) is an English sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is considered to be one of the most prominent modern sociologists and is t ...

(born 1938), sociologist, Director from 1997 to 2003 of the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

John Hodge John Hodge may refer to: *John R. Hodge (1893–1963), United States Army officer *John E. Hodge (1914–1996), American chemist *John Hodge (politician) (1855–1937), British politician *John Hodge (engineer) (1929–2021), British-born aerospace ...

(1929–2021), engineer and NASA flight director * Jana Jeruma-Grinberga (born 1953) former bishop in the Lutheran Church *

Peter Kellner Peter Jon Kellner (born 2 October 1946) is an English journalist, former BBC ''Newsnight'' reporter, political commentator, and former president of the YouGov opinion polling organisation in the United Kingdom. He is known for his appearances on ...

(born 1946), journalist and political commentator *

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

(born 1956), musician, composer and record producer *

Chris Pond Christopher Richard Pond (born 25 September 1952) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham in Kent, from 1997 to 2005. Early life He went to the Minchenden School (became compr ...

(born 1952), Labour MP from 1997 to 2005 for

Gravesham Gravesham ( ) is a local government district with borough status in north-west Kent, England. Its administrative centre and largest town is Gravesend, which was known as ''Gravesham'' in ancient times. Gravesham was formed on 1 April 1974 by ...

* David Puttnam, Baron Puttnam (born 1941), film producer and politician *

Martin Rushent Martin Charles Rushent (11 July 1948 – 4 June 2011) was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and Buzzcocks. Early life Rushent was born on 11 July 1948 in Enfield, Middlesex. His father ...

(born 1948), record producer *

Peter Sallis Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(1921-2017), actor * Sir

Peter Soulsby Sir Peter Alfred Soulsby (born 27 December 1948) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Mayor of Leicester since 2011. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South from 2005 until he resigned his seat in April 2011, in or ...

(born 1948), mayor of Leicester and former Labour MP for

Leicester South Leicester South is a constituency, recreated in 1974, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2011 by Jonathan Ashworth of the Labour Co-op Party (which denotes he is a member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Part ...

Barry Took Barry Took (19 June 192831 March 2002) was an English writer, television presenter and comedian. His decade-and-a-half writing partnership with Marty Feldman led to the television series ''Bootsie and Snudge'', the radio comedy ''Round the Horn ...

(1928–2002), comedian, writer and television presenter * John Wimpenny (1922-2015), aerodynamicist and holder of the world record for man-powered flight for ten years from 1962, when he flew the Hatfield Puffin over a distance of 995 yards.

References

External links

Social Change and English, 1945-1965
- Minchenden is one of three schools in London that are included in this Leverhulme Trust-funded project about the teaching of English in the period 1945–1965. The project is collecting oral histories from former teachers and pupils at the school. {{authority control Defunct schools in the London Borough of Enfield Educational institutions established in 1919 Educational institutions disestablished in 1984 Defunct grammar schools in England 1919 establishments in England 1984 disestablishments in England

History

Former teachers

Notable alumni

References

Further reading

External links