Cranbrook School (formally Cranbrook College) was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

co-educational

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

, located in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, England. The

Cognita Cognita is a global private schools group which owns and operates schools throughout various countries. The group has over 100 schools and employs over 21,000 staff and teaches 95,000 students across 17 countries. Cognita schools teach 13 diffe ...

Group owned and operated the school until its closure in 2016. At that time the school covered the full range of academic years from Nursery to

Year 11 Year 11 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is the eleventh or twelfth year of core education. For some Year 11 students it is their final year s ...

. Previously, in 2011, Cranbrook had merged with Glenarm College, another Cognita school in Ilford.

History

Cranbrook School (formerly known as Cranbrook College) was founded in 1896 as a boys only school. The school was acquired by Cognita Schools Limited in April 2007. In January 2011, Cranbrook and Glenarm College's integrated into a new site at Mansfield Road, adjacent to the existing Cranbrook College campus. The schools, which shared the same founder, then re-branded themselves under the new title of Cranbrook and were fully co-educational. Cranbrook School attempted to change from a boys only school into a co-ed mixed school by first opening up the reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes to girls. However low intake meant female pupils did not continue higher up the school. On 20 July 2016, reduced pupil numbers forced Cranbrook School to close permanently.

Buildings

Initially, the school consisted of the main building on 34 Mansfield Road and an old building exiting onto Cranbrook Road. The old building comprised 4 main classrooms, the school hall, library, science lab and art room. In 1992, the school opened the Thornley building, a 2-storey raised building over the main playground. This building comprised two rooms ("T1" and "T2") on the first floor and a larger third room ("T3") spanning the entire building on the second storey which could be partitioned into two smaller rooms. T3 was initially the art room but later became the computer room in the early 2000s. The art room moved to the old building above the science lab where the original computer room was situated. Following the merger with Glenarm College, the school had invested four million pounds into new building facilities. The school purchased the "Waverley Lodge Care Home" building next door to the school and expanded the preparatory department within the new space.

Notable former pupils

* Ian Greer (1933-2015), political lobbyist, who had a very successful career, until the 1994

Cash-for-questions affair The cash-for-questions affair was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It began in October 1994 when ''The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, ...

Former Head teachers

* Mr Gerald Reading * Mr Charles Lacey * Mr Joseph Thornley

References

Cognita Educational institutions established in 1896 Educational institutions disestablished in 2016 Ilford 1896 establishments in England Defunct schools in the London Borough of Redbridge 2016 disestablishments in England {{London-school-stub