Strand School

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Strand School
Established	1893
Closed	1977
Type	Secondary Grammar
Location	Tulse Hill Lambeth London England
Gender	Boys
Ages	11 to 18

Strand School was a boys' grammar school in the Tulse Hill / Brixton area of South London. It moved there in 1913 from its original location in the The Strand. Distinguished in its heyday for its contribution of young men to the Civil Service, it finally closed its doors in the late 1970s.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Relocation to Brixton 1.3 Education 1.4 Strand and the D-Day crossword 1.5 Later years 2 The buildings 2.1 Later uses: Strand Centre, Brockwell Primary School and Elm Court School 3 Alumni 4 Teachers 5 References

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

Strand School derived its name from its original location. In 1875, when the government extended the range of the entry examination to the Civil Service, William Braginton set up private classes for those seeking entry into the lower grades. He arranged to use rooms at King's College in The Strand, with the additional benefit of the prestige associated with the university college. The Civil Service Department, as it was known, was established in 1875-6 with an initial intake of 172 men. The establishment did not yet constitute a school for boys, however, until 1892, when Braginton obtained permission to run a correspondence course and to establish day classes for pupils wishing to compete for 'boy clerkships' and 'boy copyistships'. Thus began Strand School in 1893^[1]. The name was not apparent until 1897 when King's College School moved to Wimbledon in 1897, allowing the commercial school to move into the basement of King's College. The range of examinations had increased beyond the Civil Service requirements (including telegraph learners, excise and customs appointments, and assistant surveyorships.^[2] The success rate of Strand pupils was noteworthy ^[2] and many Old Strandians went on to have distinguished careers in the Civil Service.^[1] In 1900 London County Council (LCC) agreed that intermediate county scholarships could be held there and in 1905 it was also allowed to become a centre for the training of pupil teachers. ^[2]

[edit] Relocation to Brixton

In 1907 the Board of Education decided that a basement was insufficient for a school. The subsequent threat of the withdrawal of grant support led to the LCC undertaking to provide new buildings off Brixton Hill and in 1909 government of the school was handed over to a committee, although the LCC did have representation on that committee^[2]. As a condition of the incorporation of King's College into the University of London (as authorized by the King's College London Transfer Act 1908), the Civil Service classes for adults had to be placed under separate control and Braginton agreed to make the necessary arrangements. He relinquished the headmastership In 1909 to administer St George's College for women in Red Lion Square, and St George's College for men in Kingsway. R.B.Henderson inherited the post in 1910 and it was he who supervised the school's move to Brixton in 1913. ^[2]

[edit] Education

After the move to its new red brick premises in Elm Park, off Brixton Hill, Strand flourished as a grammar school for boys. Though originally concerned with preparing candidates for the Civil Service, the school went on to offer academic courses leading to the ordinary and advanced level GCE examinations. Extra curricular activities included a variety of sports including football, cricket, swimming, athletics, boxing and fives. There were a number of societies, including the drama society and the school had a contingent of the Combined Cadet Force. There was also active inter-house competition. ^[1]

During the Second World War the school was evacuated to Effingham in Surrey ^[3]

[edit] Strand and the D-Day crossword

In May 1944 ‘Utah’ appeared as a solution in The Daily Telegraph crossword that was to have major repercussions. In May 1944 Utah was also the codename for the D-Day beach assigned to the 4th US Assault Division. This would have been considered coincidence; however, in previous months the solution words Juno, Gold and Sword (all codenames for beaches assigned to the British) had appeared but they are common words in crosswords and then on May 22, 1944 came a clue with the solution Omaha - codename for the D-Day beach to be taken by the 1st US Assault Division. Overlord appeared on May 27 - codename for the whole D-Day operation, and the pattern continued ending on June 1, with the solution to 15 Down being Neptune - codeword for the naval assault phase. MI5 became involved and called on Leonard Dawe, Telegraph crossword compiler and creator of the puzzles in question, at his home in Leatherhead. Dawe was also headmaster of Strand School. Dawe recalled the episode in a BBC TV interview in 1958. However, an explanation of how the codewords came to appear in the paper emerged only in 1984. Ronald French, a property manager in Wolverhampton, came forward to say that, as a 14-year-old at the school in 1944, he inserted the names into the puzzles. According to French, Dawe occasionally invited pupils into his study and encourage them to help fill in the blank crossword patterns. Later, Dawe would create clues for their solution words. French claimed that during the weeks before D-Day he had learned of the codewords from Canadian and American soldiers camped close by the school, awaiting the invasion. French believed that hundreds of kids must have known what he knew. Another Old Strandian in 1980 is reported to have also owned up to being the perpetrator of the codenames.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Later years

Strand served the surrounding area for decades as the grammar school for boys, while the nearby St Martin-in-the Fields High School served the same function for girls.

In the late 1950s two large comprehensive schools were opened in the area, Dick Sheppard School for girls and the giant Tulse Hill School for boys in the immediate vicinity of Strand School. In 1972 the Inner London Education Authority proposed that the Strand School, being as was termed by Roy Hattersley ‘a small maintained boys' grammar school in an elderly building’ should have its pupils transferred to the nearby Dick Sheppard School. The Strand School and Tulse Hill School buildings, standing side by side, were to be used to form a single new comprehensive school. The Secretary of State for Education, Margaret Thatcher, approved the closure but not the alteration to Tulse Hill School. The parents of pupils at Strand chose to contest the closure in the courts. As a result of that an injunction forbidding the closure was made in May 1972. The ILEA abandoned the immediate closure of Strand and making a second application to the Minister in July 1972. However, the Secretary of State turned down this proposal in January 1973 and explained in a speech that the change of heart over the closure 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. ^[4]

However, by the late 1970s, Strand School had been closed down, its remnants merging with Dick Sheppard Girls’ School which from that point became a mixed school. Of the four schools, the only one that remains open today is St Martins-In-The-Fields, Tulse Hill and Dick Sheppard having closed in 1990 and 1994 respectively.

Strand's buildings have had various uses since it finally closed in 1977. They were used as temporary premises for "decant" schools; and, more recently, by an Albanian Youth Group.^[5]

[edit] The buildings

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. ^[6] The style employed was Edwardian, with the building having a red brick frontage decorated with Portland stone dressings and enlivened by a magnificent central stone arched window incorporating a fine sculpture.^[6]. It has been described as: One of the finest secular building in terms of its architectural quality and character and a splendid local landmark and is of significant historic and architectural interest in its own right. ^[6] Other features of the building were its main hall with its war memorial to both the First and Second World Wars, the gymnasium, what were once well-equipped laboratories, and the dining hall. ^[1]

[edit] Later uses: Strand Centre, Brockwell Primary School and Elm Court School

The buildings became the home for the Strand Centre following the closure of the school. In 2000 the site was converted to become suitable for use as a primary school so that it could accommodate Brockwell Primary School during the consttruction of the Jubilee Primary School on the original Brockwell site. The Strand Centre again became vacant when the Jubilee Primary School opened in 2003. In 2007 major renovation began at the site to make it ready to house a Special Educational Needs school for 100 pupils. This school will be the Elm Court School, which will move from its present site on Elmcourt Road in West Norwood. This is so that a new secondary school can be built on that site, namely Elmgreen School. Thus, Elm Court School will be located on Elm Park, with Elmgreen School being located on Elmcourt Road.^[7]

[edit] Alumni

Strand Old Boys are known as Old Strandians^[1] and among their number are the following:

• Vernon Butcher - Organist of the Chapel Royal^[8]
• David Guthrie Catcheside 1907-1994 - seminal figure in the post-war development of genetics^[9]
• Sir Jack Cecil Drummond - distinguished biochemist ^[10]
• Charles Alfred Fisher - (1916 - 1982) Emeritus Professor of Geography with reference to Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Leonard Christopher Gilley - artist ^[11]
• Reg Goodwin - British politician and former Leader of the Greater London Council
• Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey - Explorer ^[12]
• David Jacobs - Ex Juke Box Jury Host and DJ^[4]
• George Barker Jeffery - mathematical physicist^[13]
• Mick Jones - Musician
• Richard Valentine Moore, GC, CBE - winner of the George Cross ^[14]
• Arnold Plant - Economist ^[15]
• Professor Alan A Ball BSc Lond, PhD EAnglia, MIMfgE, CEng Professor of Engineering Design.Birmingham University
• Leroy Rosenior - Footballer
• Tim Roth - actor (often wrongly attributed as going to Tulse Hill School).
• Jeremy Spencer - musician - ex-Fleetwood Mac
• Euan Uglow - artist ^[11]
• Ronald Philip Benjamin Wood - artist ^[11]
• Gary Gadd- son of Paul Gadd AKA Gary Glitter- musician.

[edit] Teachers

• Ronald Gurner

[edit] References

• Strand School King's College London Archives