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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I was chatting today to someone who grew up here in the 1970s and 1980s and she mentioned a boys secondary school that was a companion to Hornsey School for girls. I'd never heard of it so asked for more details - it turms out there was a boys secondary school called Stationers that was based where Stationers Park is on Mayfield Road just over the tracks in Crouch End.

Am posting in case others find it of interest - I had always assumed that Stationers park was built on an old bomb site so was really interested to hear this. It closed in 1983 apparently.

I don't know how much of the current park site it took up, and whether it occupied any of the space now taken by Weston Park primary school. But it was clearly a large school - there is a picture from the 1920s on the old boys website which must have been taken towards the top of the current park (where the basketball court is now) - I've attached a copy. Edited - in fact now wonder if this picture was taken even further up, perhaps where the newer housing is on Denton Road.
http://www.oldstationers.co.uk

Some more details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stationers'_Company's_School

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There'a an older post about the school here.

This 1925 map may help too:

I only recently found out about it. Two years ago, when the Stationers Park playground reopened, I took my children there, as well as my parents. When my dad discovered the name of the park, he became very animated and said that his father had been to a Stationers school and wondered whether there was a connection. He knew he'd grown up in Highgate, but never knew where his school was. So I did some Googling and came across the same sites as you.

I contacted the old boys' site and asked whether they had any of the old school records, so that I could see whether my grandpa (or, indeed, his younger brother) had attended. They didn't have the records, but somebody had scanned in every page from the school's triannual magazine (dating back to the 1890s), so I was able to trawl through and find that my grandpa had been a pupil there in the 1920s. (The magazines do, incidentally, make fascinating social history, and it's shocking how many of the pupils seemed to die during the course of their schooling, mainly from illnesses that have now been largely eradicated in this country.)

From what I've been able to glean, the school initially took up most of the park, plus the new-build housing at the top of the hill. At the bottom of the hill, where Weston Park primary is now, as well as some more new-ish housing, there was Hornsey Girls. When Hornsey Girls moved to its present site (I'm thinking 1970s, but I could be wrong), the boys' school expanded to fill the whole of the block, only to shut a decade later.

By a strange quirk of fate, my children now go to Weston Park primary. When they're old enough to understand, I'll tell them about Stationers and their great-grandpa.

Thanks both. That's a great story about your grandfather Phil.
My grandpa attended this school my mum has lots of information on it I will ask her and then post it. It was sponsored by the stationers gilled.
There was also a small French day school further down into crouch end that my great grandpa went to all very interesting

Hi Alison, we've lots of info about Stationers' at Hornsey historical Society at the OldSchoolhouse on corner of Rokesley Ave and Tottenham Lane. Why not pop in and talk to the Archive Team  any Friday morning or call or mail us,

I attended Stationers Company School for a couple of years. It was an all boys school and very very strict. I got "Caned" on stage during assembly along with several others. We were due to attend Inter-borough games at Crystal Palace,South London one Saturday. At the time I was a fairly swift sprinter (100m) and had never lost a race. When the day for the inter borough games arrived, the events we were competing in had been changed by our "PE Teacher". So now as a sprinter, i find myself assigned to compete in the 800M race. I had not hope in completing that at all. The same had happened to other pupils so most of the squad were pretty upset.  To rub salt in the wounds, the school had issued us with a single bus voucher to get to South London and back! Whilst all the other schools had a bus.  Obviously some of us were unable to make it and come monday we were punished publicly.  My parents removed me from SCS and i carried out my secondary education at St Thomas More RC in Wood Green. 

It's always interesting to see that the old school has gone but isn't forgotten (for various reasons good and bad).  I went there in the 60s when the "regime" was clearly a bit more humane than my predecessor's experiences above. The school was certainly a large building having a huge wing on the Mayfield Road side in addition to the rather Hogwarty original structure which went right across the block.  First year boys regularly got lost in the maze of corridors not helped by the older lads who would happily send them off in the wrong direction thus ensuring late arrival at the next lesson and the accompanying punishment (usually detention).  One of my teachers, Stan Read, later became the last head of the school before its closure for not fitting into the political ethos of that period.  I can't say that my school years were the happiest of my life but Stationers did give me a good education and really did

not deserve to be swept aside.  The Old Stationers' Association is still very active and closely linked to the Stationers' Hall in the City and I am pleased to say that I will be there next week for our Xmas lunch.  At a re-union last year "Old Boys" turned up from as far afield as Singapore and New Zealand and I am in regular contact with guys I went to school with who are now in Melbourne, Australia and Houston, Texas so we seem to get around a bit!  Stationers in Hornsey may be just a memory but it still lives on elsewhere.

yes thats right, when i started teaching in 1979 stationers was still up and running, it took up all of the area that is now the park and school and housing.... at the bottom, not sure about housing at the top though, i cant remember!

The original part of the school ran parallel to Ridge Road and there were houses (Victorian or Edwardian if my memory is correct) along that part of Ridge Road. The back entrance of the school had a yard that led into Denton Road and was on a lower level than the houses.  This might be visible in a photo I've seen online possibly on the OSA website.  There were several almost subterranean rooms right at the back of the building cut into the hill side, the prefects' room for example which had a view out to a concrete slab wall, very picturesque!  The upper stories at the front had a great view across the valley to Ally Pally.  I think the OSA website might also have a photo of that view but from the dim and distant when things looked a bit different....

I attended Hornsey School for girls during the 1970s. I remember that we were forbidden to associate with the boys from Stationers - (this was during the time that Miss Curtis was headmistress - a legend!) I do remember going to the far side of the playing fields where there was a fence and talking to the boys. Luckily was never caught!

I don't recall any ban on the boys talking to the girls but I think your conversations at the fence would have prompted punishment of some sort during the 60s.  The reason being that where our playground stopped there was a patch of rough land which was called "The Wilderness" if memory serves me correct (again) and that area was out of bounds.  I can't remember when but at some point some additional classrooms were built down there when the school went comprehensive.  There was also a church next to that patch of land and it was jokingly suggested that it was there to deal with any boy/girl relationship that required "holy" attention (no, we didn't think it was hilarious either...).

That's Elizabeth M Curtis and she was a bit of a tartar I was told. But she opened a house in Denton Road for her 6th formers which got a bit of reputation! I thinkl she may have later married Alderman Frank Cave of Hornsey BC but if \I am wrong please do not sue me!

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