Schooling in Potters Bar

1839

1861

1872

1933

1934

1938

1944

1954

1958

1960

1973

1998

Schools of Potters Bar

The National Society was founded in 1811 to promote education on church principles. It was not until 1834 that the vicar applied to the Society 'for aid to build 2 schoolrooms as South Mymms and Potters Bar'. The estimated number of children needing education was 200 therefore each school was to teach 100 pupils in one room, divided by a partition. The application for a school at 'South Mymms' was successful however Potters Bar were left out and no building was constructed.

Work on a new school building in the High Street (formally Ladbrooke School, now derelict) began in around August 1861, infant pupils transferring to the new site from the National School in Barnet Road in that same year. The name Ladbrooke School would not be given to the school until 1938 however for continuity I will call this Ladbrooke School. The land was vicarage property owned by Rev. Henry George Watkins and the building was constructed at the sole cost to himself and Mrs Sarah Watkins, he continued to fund the school until his death in 1890.

By this time the National School building on Barnet Road was falling into a state of disrepair, subsidence caused by the building of the railway was causing cracks to appear in walls and the floor of the building. By 1871 the building had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the decision was taken to build a new school in Southgate Road.

The land on which it was built was given by the Oakmere Estate and a sum of £60 received from the National Society meant that the new school, named St Johns School was opened in 1872. In 1871 Miss Harriet Cherrill (born circa 1842 in Wantage, Berkshire) was listed as the mistress for 'infants', both the 1881, 1891 census show her occupation as 'Infant School Mistress' and living at 'St John School'. The 1901 census shows her living at an address on 'High Road', her occupation still listed as 'School Mistress' She died in 1908, aged 69. It would appear she still lived in the area at the time of her death. St Johns closed in 1954, the School buildings were eventually demolished in 1962 following years of disuse.

By the 1930's Potters Bar was expanding rapidly, this once quiet hamlet situated on the northern outskirts of London was fast becoming a town and new schools were needed to cope with the increased population. This decade brought much change to the schooling of Potters Bar.

Ladbrooke School to the rear left

In 1930 a new school building was built behind the existing infant block of Ladbrooke School. Later in 1933 the infant children were transferred to St Johns in Southgate Road,Ladbrooke becoming solely a senior school. The existing infant block was utilised as a Domestic Science Centre, a hut built in the yard of

In 1938 Parkfield School was built for senior students, located on what is now the new Ladbrooke School on The Walk and in this same year the High Street School was named Ladbrooke School after a farm which had disappeared a few years earlier, its land being developed for housing. Ladbrooke was just one of several farms to succumb to the growing need for housing in the area. At around this time Ladbrooke School changed roles once more, for now it was an Infant & Junior school.

I find reference that in September 1948 Parkfield was inaugurated as one of Middlesex County Councils first Comprehensive Schools. The following March a meeting was held in the hall of Parkfield School, the parents of the children of Potters Bar were not happy that their children at Ladbrooke School once reaching their 11th birthday would automatically attend Parkfield Secondary. They wanted the children of Potters Bar to have the same right to attend a grammer school as any other child in the county of Middlesex. Finally the council conceeded and they announced in the May of 1949 that all children would take an exam, their results would qualify them for either grammar or comprehensive secondary schooling.

By 1954 there were 1200+ children in Potters Bar of schooling age. This year brought yet more change to account for the rise in population, with Parkfield becoming a solely junior school and Ladbrooke an infants. Senior pupils moved to the newly built Mount Grace Comprehensive, a brand new school built on the site of Mount Grace Childrens Home. The Parkfield school would become Mount Grace Lower School whilst the new sit would be Mount Grace Upper School.

In the late 50's Potters Bar was growing in size, new housing estates were being built and as a result of these new schools were planned to take on the increasing demand for spaces. Oakmere School to the East was opened as a primary school in 1958, Sunnybank to the west of the town opened its doors, also as a primary school in 1960

Dame Alice Owen school opened in 1973 as a mixed senior school. Dame Alice Owen has a long history which can be read Here

By 1994 the Ladbrooke School site on the High Street had become too small for its purpose. Population levels and the national curriculum required bigger classrooms and more of them, for this a new build was the best option. In 1997 work began on the new site and the pupils walked through the gate of their brand new Ladbrooke school on the 13th October 1998, the High Street building closing its doors after 133 years as a schooling establishment.

This building, now grade II listed remains derelict whilst the land to the rear where the expanded senior school buildings once stood have been developed into housing: the road, Watkins Rise is named after the Rev. H.G. Watkins, the man who founded the origional High Street School back in 1861.

References