Strand School was a boys'
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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
in the
Tulse Hill area of
South London. It moved there in 1913 from its original location at
King's College in London's
Strand.
Distinguished in its heyday for its contribution of young men to the
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
, it finally closed its doors in 1979 after hotly contested attempts by the education authorities from the early 1950s onwards to turn it into a
comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 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 restricted on the basis ...
.
Former pupils included a leader of the
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
, figures prominent in the world of entertainment, and the scientist and environmentalist
James Lovelock, originator of the
Gaia hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their Inorganic compound, inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a Synergy, synergistic and Homeostasis, s ...
.
History
Origins
Strand School got its name from the fact that it originated in the evening department of
King's College in London's Strand. The teaching of evening classes commenced there in 1848; under Alfred Barry, principal between 1868 and 1883, these were "considerably extended":
::When in 1875 the government extended the range of the Civil Service entry examination, William Braginton ... set up private classes in rooms at
King's College in the Strand, for those seeking entry into the lower grades. The prestige of being associated with the university college was an added benefit.
The Civil Service Department, as it was known in the early years, started with an intake of 172 men: it did not yet constitute a school for boys. In 1892 Braginton got permission to run a correspondence course, and day classes, for pupils wishing to compete for "boy clerkships" and "boy copyistships". Thus, in 1893, began Strand School.
The school's name was not apparent, however, till 1897, when
King's College School moved to
Wimbledon, making it possible for the commercial school to move into the college basement. Examinations on offer had by this time increased beyond those of the civil service as such, to include telegraph learners, assistant surveyorships, as well as those for customs and excise appointments.
The success rate of Strand pupils was noteworthy.
Many Old Strandians, as they became known, went on to distinguished careers in the civil service.
In 1900 the
London County Council (LCC) agreed that intermediate county scholarships could be held there, and in 1905 it was allowed to become a centre for the training of pupil teachers.
[Keith Dakin-White, 'History of Strand School, 1875–1913', written for MA in Science Education, Chelsea College, University of London, 1984]
Relocation to South London
In 1907 the
Board of Education determined that a mere basement was insufficient for a school. The threat of withdrawal of grant support caused the LCC to undertake to provide new buildings in Elm Park, between Tulse Hill and
Brixton Hill in
South London. In 1909 government of the school was handed over to a committee, which included LCC representatives.
As a condition of the incorporation of King's College into the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
, under the terms of the
King's College London (Transfer) Act 1908 (
8 Edw. 7. c. xxxix), the civil service classes for adults had to be placed under separate administration, so Braginton agreed to make the necessary arrangements: he relinquished the headmastership in 1909, to run St George's College for women, Red Lion Square, and St George's College for men in Kingsway. R.B. Henderson took over as headmaster of Strand School in 1910, and he it was who supervised the move to South London in 1913.
After the move to its new red brick premises, Strand flourished as a grammar school. Though its priority had been to prepare candidates for the civil service, it went on to offer courses leading to the Ordinary and Advanced level
GCE examinations. Extra-curricular activities included a variety of sports such as football, cricket, swimming, athletics, boxing and
fives. Games and social activities were organised on a
House system, with boys being allocated a house on entering the school and thereafter being guided by a housemaster. There was active competition between the school's six houses: Arundel, Bedford, Exeter, Kings, Lancaster, and Salisbury. These are the names of streets off the
Strand, plus Kings College. Salisbury Street no longer exists.
The school had an annual sports day, which was held on the school field until 1952, when Tulse Hill Comprehensive was built there.
There were a number of societies, including a debating society, a dramatic society and, in later years, a film society. The
cadet force, had air force and army sections, the latter affiliated to the
Kings Royal Rifle Corps.
[London County Council, (1962), Secondary Schools in Bermondsey, Lambeth and Southwark, Division 8, page 22] The school published each July and December ''The Strand School Magazine''. A printing press in the gallery above the main hall turned out three school calendars a year, one for each term, visiting cards, membership cards for school societies and letter-headings, as well as programmes for school plays.
1936: Tragedy in the Black Forest
The school suffered a major tragedy on 17 April 1936 when a hiking party of 27 were caught in a blizzard in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
, near
Freiburg, Germany, and five boys froze to death. They had set out on a three-hour hike between hostels, via
Schauinsland, 4200 feet. The master in charge, Kenneth Keast ignored local terrain, the weather reports indicating severe weather, and multiple warnings from locals, directing his group up the steepest flank of the Schauinsland in severe weather, ultimately stranding his group on the southeastern mountain flank. The event was used by the Nazi regime as a propaganda tool in which Keast was absolved from blame. Initially commended for his courage by the
London County Council's committee of enquiry, subsequent investigative reports, including a 2016 article in ''The Guardian'' highlighted the negligence of the master in charge.
In 1938 the ''Engländerdenkmal'' ("Monument to Englishmen") of architect Hermann Alker was erected by the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...
in commemoration.
World War II
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Strand School was evacuated to
Effingham in
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
.
Crossword security alarm
The school in 1944, via its then-headmaster
Leonard Dawe, was involved in what became known as the
D-Day ''Daily Telegraph'' crossword security alarm.
1956: Tulse Hill Comprehensive School and the final years
Strand served its surrounding area for most of the twentieth century as the local boys' grammar school, with nearby
St Martin-in-the Fields High School providing for girls.
In the mid-1950s came the first serious threat to Strand School's existence, when two large
comprehensive schools were opened locally:
Dick Sheppard School for girls in 1955, and the giant
Tulse Hill School for boys in 1956, the latter built on what had been the Strand
playing fields. Only by a narrow marginfollowing an intense campaign by parents, old boys and school governorshad the school beaten off a plan to abolish it as a grammar school, and turn it into one of the two comprehensives: what became Tulse Hill Comprehensive was to have been known as "Strand Comprehensive."
The successful campaign provided what was to prove, in the end, only temporary respite. With the abolition of the
tripartite system
The Tripartite System was the selective school system of State school#United Kingdom, state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 onwards in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementa ...
in education, the
Inner London Education Authority took the decision to go fully comprehensive. So in 1972 the ILEA again proposed that Strand, described by
Labour's Roy Hattersley as a "small maintained boys' grammar school in an elderly building," be turned into a comprehensive; its pupils were to be transferred to Dick Sheppard, with the Strand and Tulse Hill buildings merged to form a single new comprehensive school. Battle once again commenced.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
, at the time
Secretary of State for Education
The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...
, later approved the closure, but not the Tulse Hill School alterations. Strand parents this time chose to contest the closure in the courts: in May 1972 an
injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
was granted forbidding closure. The Labour-controlled ILEA was forced to abandon immediate closure of Strand, but made a second application to the minister in July 1972.
Thatcher turned down this application in January 1973, saying that the change of heart was because she had "listened to the parents and watched their fight to save a small school which provided an opportunity for anyone who got there on a basis of merit, whatever his background."
[House of Commons Speech by Margaret Thatcher (Secondary Education (Opposition motion)), (1 February 1973), (Hansard HC 49/1639-68]
Around 1979 Strand School was closed down. Its remnants were merged with
Dick Sheppard School, which became, for the time that remained, a mixed school. Of all four schools, the only one to survive the rigours of improvement and shifting education policy was
St Martin-In-The-Fields High School for Girls.
Tulse Hill School closed in 1990, and Dick Sheppard School in 1994.
Subsequent history of the building
After Strand School's closure, the buildings became known as the Strand Centre and had various uses. They were used as temporary premises for schools being renovated and by an Albanian Youth Group. In 2000 they were converted for use as a primary school to temporarily house Brockwell Primary School, while the new Jubilee Primary School was being built on Brockwell's site. When Jubilee Primary finally opened in 2003 the Strand premises again fell vacant.
2009, Elm Court School
In 2007, to house Elm Court School, major renovation were made at the former Strand School site. Elm Court is a
special educational needs school with capacity for 100 pupils at key stages 3 and 4,
[› Services](_blank)
/ref> "aged 9 to 19 years who have learning difficulties with associated social and communication needs. Many ... pupils have autism". The school moved from Elmcourt Road in West Norwood to make way for the new Elmgreen secondary school. Elm Court School opened in Elm Park SW2 in March 2009.
The school's architecture
The buildings near the southern end of Elm Park were built by the London County Council between 1912 and 1914 under the direction of the chief architect W.E. Riley.[Edmund Bird, (January 1997), Consultation Draft Report & Character Assessment Statement for the Proposed Brixton Hill Conservation Area, (London Borough of Lambeth Environmental Services)] The style employed was Edwardian, with a red brick frontage decorated with Portland stone dressings, enlivened by a central stone arched window incorporating a sculpture.
Other features of the school were its main hall with its war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
to pupils and former pupils who died in the First and Second
The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
World Wars, in the form of a large organ bought by public subscription, the gymnasium at the rear of the main building, and, on the top floor, what were laboratories
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which science, scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as s ...
and the dining hall. In the 1960s a two-storey art and woodkwork/metalwork block was built next to the gymnasium.
The school has been described as, "one of the finest secular buildings in terms of its architectural quality and character" and, "a splendid local landmark of significant historic and architectural interest in its own right."
A less obvious feature is the two fives courts located behind the school. These are similar to those required for Rugby fives. A photograph showing the right hand court in use (from 1914) exists in the Frith Collection.
Headmasters
Brixton from 1913
* Bernard Fenton, 1974-1979
* Martin Reed, 1969-1974
* J. E. Cox, headmaster: 1956–1969. Died during summer holidays in 1969 whilst still Headmaster.
* Leonard Dawe (1889–1963): 1926–56.
* Ronald Gurner (1890–1939): 1920–26.
*R. B. Henderson: September 1913 – 1919.
King's College, from 1893
*Ralph Bushill Henderson: 1911–13. He then continued at Brixton.
* William Braginton: 1893–1910.
Notable former pupils
Former pupils are known as Old Strandians. They include the following:
*Rev. Donald Aird, Vicar of St Marks Church, Hamilton Terrace, London NW8 (1979–1995), founder of the Society of Christians and Jews.
* Vernon Butcher, Organist of the Chapel Royal.
* David Guthrie Catcheside, seminal figure in the development of post-war genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
.
* Charles Alfred Fisher, Professor of Geography, School of Oriental & African Studies.
* Fruitbat (Les Carter), rock musician, co-founder of Carter USM.
* Leonard Christopher Gilley, artist.
* Sir Reg Goodwin, politician and former Leader of the Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
.
*Leonard Hussey
Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey, Order of the British Empire, OBE (6 May 1891 – 25 February 1964) was an English meteorologist, archaeologist, explorer, medical doctor and member of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Imperia ...
, explorer.
* David Jacobs, CBE, broadcaster, long-time presenter of BBC's '' Juke Box Jury'' and '' Any Questions''.
* Lord Sydney Jacobson, newspaper executive and editor.
* George Barker Jeffery, mathematical physicist, translator of papers by Einstein, Lorentz & other fathers of relativity theory.
* Mick Jones, rock musician, lead guitarist and vocalist, The Clash
The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...
.
* James Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS, scientist and environmentalist, best known for the Gaia hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their Inorganic compound, inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a Synergy, synergistic and Homeostasis, s ...
.
* Richard Valentine Moore, winner of the George Cross
The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...
.
* Sir Arnold Plant, economist.
* Leroy Rosenior, professional footballer, coach and broadcaster.
* Tim Roth, Academy award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-nominated, BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
-winning movie actor and director
* Jeremy Spencer, rock musician, founder-member of Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
.
* Euan Uglow, artist.[Dolman, Bernard, (1927), ''Who's who in Art'', (Art Trade Press)]
* Colin Hyams, Mayor of Huntingdon 2012–2013
References
External links
There are some interesting photos of the school by a former pupil (scroll down)
{{coord missing, London
Educational institutions established in 1893
Boys' schools in London
Defunct schools in the London Borough of Lambeth
1893 establishments in England
1970s disestablishments
Defunct grammar schools in England