East Barnet School
Encyclopedia
East Barnet School is a comprehensive school at Chestnut Grove in East Barnet
East Barnet
East Barnet is an area of North London within the London Borough of Barnet bordered by New Barnet, Cockfosters and Southgate. It is a largely residential suburb whose central area, known locally as the Village, contains a variety of shops, public houses, restaurants and services. East Barnet is...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Status

It has Technology College status and has a second specialism as a Leadership Partner School; is a Science Demonstration School and part of Project Faraday (one of only 10 schools in the UK); and is a 'Building Schools for the Future' Pathfinder School.

History

East Barnet Modern School opened in April 1937 with 200 students who had transferred from other schools, spread across 4 year groups. The first headteacher, Allan Clayton, had soon changed the name of the school, in new buildings in Chestnut Grove, to East Barnet Grammar School.

The premises had been built for 350 students, but by 1947 it was housing 547. Various additions of classrooms and labs were made between 1948 and 1958. Major building work between 1961 and 1965 added a new assembly hall, gym, music rooms and dining halls.

Due to local government reorganisation, on 1 April 1965 the school ceased to be a Hertfordshire County Council school, and became part of the new London Borough of Barnet.

In September 1971, East Barnet Grammar School became East Barnet Senior High School, a comprehensive school for pupils aged 14–18; and John Hampden School in Westbrook Crescent, New Barnet, became East Barnet Junior High School. Students automatically transferred from the junior to the senior school at the end of their third year.

In 1976 the two schools were combined as East Barnet School, an 11-18 co-educational comprehensive, operating from two sites: the Lower School (Westbrook Crescent) and Upper School (Chestnut Grove). In the late 1980s the usage of the two sites was swapped. Students in Years 7 to 10 were now on the Chestnut Grove site and Years 11 to 13 were at the Westbrook Crescent site.

In 2010 the buildings at Chestnut Grove were demolished and a new school opened with all year groups now on the one site. The Westbrook Crescent site being taken over by JCoSS, a newly built Jewish Community Secondary School, which also opened its doors to new students in the same year.

Development plans

In 2005, JCoSS, the Jewish Community Secondary School put forward a bid to the DfES to obtain the Westbrook Crescent site and for the government to pay for a new £46 million Jewish school on this site. Barnet Council agreed as long as the old Chestnut Grove site was rebuilt. The earliest possible date for a new school was 2009. The bid was rejected in autumn 2005.

In February 2006, it was announced that JCoSS had been chosen to be part of a government pilot scheme pilot to help parents influence new school provision. The Barnet Times reported that East Barnet School would be rebuilt on the Chestnut Grove site by September 2007 and JCoSS would open on the Westbrook Crescent site in September 2009.

Planning applications for both schools (East Barnet & JCoSS) were submitted to Barnet Council in May 2007. On both sites new buildings would be constructed on land that is currently playing fields. This is to enable East Barnet School to continue to operate during the construction phase. Following completion of the new school buildings, the original buildings would be demolished and replaced by all weather sports pitches and car parking facilities.

In May 2007, the Barnet Times reported that the transport and environment implications of the JCoSS plan were the subject of a campaign, spearheaded by local residents who formed the Barnet Safe Children & Environment Group.

Planning permission for the redevelopment of the Chestnut Grove site by East Barnet School was granted in July 2007. It was reported that construction was due to start in January 2008, with the school occupying the new building from September 2009.

Planning permission for the redevelopment of the Westbrook Crescent site by JCoSS was granted by Barnet's planning committee in August 2007. The public gallery and three committee rooms at Hendon Town Hall were packed by opponents and supporters of the scheme. The Barnet Times reported that the new Jewish school would open in September 2010.

In January 2008, it was reported that Barnet Council had stopped the architects working on the design of East Barnet School because of concerns over an alleged budget overrun of £6 million. Building Design Partnership
Building Design Partnership
Building Design Partnership is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 1200 staff in the UK and internationally.-Foundation:The firm was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell Baines with architects Bill White and John Wilkinson, quantity surveyor Arnold Towler and eight associate partners:...

 denied that there was a problem and could deliver the £25 million project on budget. The opening of the new Chestnut Grove building would be delayed until 2010. JCoSS did not believe that the delay would affect their plans for the Westbrook Crescent site, although they still had to raise £50 million.

A fresh planning application for the East Barnet School building was submitted by new architects Frank Shaw Associates Ltd in April 2008. The new design follows the same basic site layout as before, but the curved glass roofed elliptical building is replaced by a simple oblong box. The plans were agreed by the borough planning committee in June 2008.

The new building was completed in May 2010 and work on the grounds and remaining sports areas continued until December 2010. Students and staff transferred into the school in June 2010. The Project Faraday science facilities were opened by Nobel Laureate Sir Tim Hunt F.R.S.
Tim Hunt
Sir Richard Timothy "Tim" Hunt, FRS is an English biochemist.Hunt was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and Leland H...

 on 5th October 2010. The new school was officially opened on March 15, 2011 by H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucseter K.G. G.C.V.O. There were representatives present from all year groups since the first student intake of 1937.

Headteachers

  • 1998 – Present Mr Nick Christou
  • 1971 - 1998 Mr Richard D. Hurdman
  • 1960 - 1971 Mr Angus Johnson
  • 1937 - 1960 Mr Allan Clayton

Notable former pupils

  • John Wrighton
    John Wrighton
    John Derek Wrighton MB, BS, FRCS in Ilford, Essex, is a retired track and field athlete, who represented Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy...

     MB, BS, FRCS (10 March 1933 -), who won two gold medals at the 1958 European Championships in Stockholm, Sweden: in the men's individual 400 metres and in the 4x400 metres relay. He also represented Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy and was Team Captain.
  • Alan Coren
    Alan Coren
    Alan Coren was an English humorist, writer and satirist who was well known as a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz The News Quiz and a team captain on BBC television's Call My Bluff...

     - (27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007) was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was well known as a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz The News Quiz and a team captain on BBC television's Call My Bluff. Coren was also a journalist, and for nine years was the editor of Punch magazine.
  • Prof George England, Emeritus Professor of Mechanics and Structures at Imperial College London
    Imperial College London
    Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

     from 1989–.
  • Dr Elliot G. Finer, author of various scientific papers and articles and joined the Dept of Energy in 1975 as under secretary, then DG in the Energy Efficiency Office 1988-90; was a director of Spiller Foods Ltd 1989-92, head of the Management Development Group of the Cabinet Office 1990-92. In the Department for Trade and Industry,was head of the Enterprise Initiative Div 1992 and head of Chemicals and Biotechnology Div 1992-95. He was DG of Chemical Industries Association 1996-2002 and Council Member of the Royal Soc of Chemistry 2002-09 (hon treas 2005-09).
  • Philip O'Donoghue, General Secretary of the Institute of Biology
    Institute of Biology
    The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies...

     from 1982-9.
  • Prof John Stollery CBE, Professor of Aerodynamics from 1973-95 at Cranfield University
    Cranfield University
    Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...

    , and President of the Royal Aeronautical Society
    Royal Aeronautical Society
    The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...

    from 1987-8.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK