Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Hornsey County School (South Harringay) Art Room, circa 1910
Hornsey county school opened in 1904, as Hornsey higher elementary school, on land which had been acquired by the board east of South Harringay school. It accommodated 340 mixed pupils in 1906, when average attendance was 127, and changed its name on passing to the county council in 1908. The school was converted from a grammar to a girls' secondary modern in 1951 and was absorbed into the comprehensive Hornsey school for girls in 1967.
South Harringay council school, planned by the board, opened in 1904. It consisted of a building with 600 places for junior mixed pupils and another for 300 infants, on a site between Mattison and Pemberton roads which also housed new higher elementary and special instruction schools. After 1919 the accommodation was for only 400 juniors and 240 infants, until reorganisation in 1934 created a junior mixed and infants' school for 340, while senior girls used the old higher elementary school block facing Pemberton Road. When the senior girls moved into Hornsey grammar school in 1952, their block was occupied by some of the juniors, who shared their own building with the infants. In 1974 the infants took over the Pemberton Road block, leaving the juniors the whole of the old junior school and part of the original infants' school. There were 339 children on the roll of the junior school in 1976 and 263 on that of the infants' in 1975.
(British History Online)
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Comment by Arthur Astrop on December 11, 2008 at 14:06
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This is a part of the school I attended from 1928 (when I was five years old) to 1933, when my family left Harringay and moved to Surrey. Memories of two teachers of that period still remain lodged in my (85-year old) noddle. Miss Clayton, who took the induction class for infants. She was a blonde 'princess' in my eyes, not least because she had a tall glass jar of boiled sweets on her desk. At going-home time, those who had been 'good' got a sweetie.
Her colleague (Miss Osmonde) was a different type. Red-haired and with a very short fuse, she taught us arithmetic. A hard task-mistress, who could wield an ebony ruler to great effect. As a result, I can still recite all my tables (up to 12 times 12) to this day.
Other memories of that school include Empire Day parades in the playground, and rigid observance of the two minutes silence on Armistice Days. If I can find them, I have two photos of the school in the 1928-33 period. One shows my class, most of the boys dressed in mishapen jumpers and the girls in pretty frocks, and the entire cast of the school's 1930 (?) Christmas 'play.
Arthur Astrop, Kenilworth
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Bob,
How kind of you to post such a complimentary comment on my few lines re: my first school. I've also today commented on the photo 'Wightman Road 1908', put up by Hugh on 25 March 2008 at 10.33am and which, as a very new member of HoL, I've only just discovered. The road looks almost exactly as I remember it as a 5-year old, 20 years later! In my comment on the 'art room' photo (above), I mentioned two photos that I have from the school, one of my first class and the other of the school's 1930 Christmas play/panto. I've just found them again, and if I knew how, I would put them up on the site! I MUST learn how to do it.
Arthur Astrop
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Comment by John D on December 11, 2008 at 21:58
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Arthur, I understand that you attended Stationers' with Colin Chapman. If you would care to message me, you might hear something to my advantage :-)
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OOps sorry, it's John Astrop, not Arthur
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I am curious about the name of this school as I am researching my great grandparents who were both teachers. My great grandfather, Joseph Seddon taught Physics & Mathematics at Hornsey County School from just after it opened until 1934 and all three of his children attended there until the age of 17/18, which seems to be contrary to what has been said about it being a school for infants and juniors only. Were there two schools with the same name?
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Comment by Hugh on August 5, 2014 at 14:24
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If you read my excerpt from British History Online below the photo, you'll see that there were in effect two schools on adjoining sites. One for younger kids and one for the +11s.
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If you have a look at this thread from yesterday, you'll see that Angela has published some pages from the North Harringay School school diaries written during WW1. South Harringay School might hold the same sort of records for Hornsey County School, or you could check at Bruce Castle Museum.
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Thanks Hugh. I managed to get a lot of information from the HCS alumni society (including photos and copies of the school magazine which have lots of references to my great grandfather and his children). I'm now on the hunt for info about my great grandmother who it seems taught at Harringay Board School (which I think became North Harringay School) from 1895. I'll try and contact the school to see if they can help.
By the way, this is a great site and I'm getting lots of interesting information. My grandmother grew up in this area and I'm finding the photos really fascinating.
Complimenti!
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Try Angela who posted those excerpts. Her husband in the school manager (may not be the correct title) and Angela is a useful local historian. Go to her page by clicking on her name at the top of her comments and add a comment.
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