Hendon School

Infobox School
name = Hendon School
latin_name =


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streetaddress = "Golders Rise"
city = Hendon
county = London
postcode = NW4 2HP
country = England
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schoolboard =
founder =
specialist = Language
headteacher = Mr. Kevin McKellar
chairperson = Dr. A Isaacs
staff = 45
faculty =
teaching_staff =
roll = 1,222
LEA = Barnet
ofsted = 101357
testaverage =
testname =
national_ranking =
classes =
classes offered =
avg_class_size = 28
ratio = 25:1
gender = Mixed
houses =
schooltype = Comprehensive
fundingtype =
type = Grant Maintained
system =
fees =
tuition =
revenue =
endowment =
budget =
enrolment =
products =
grades = A-E
age range = 11-18
medium =
language =
classrooms = 30
campus =
campus size =
campus type =
Hours_in_Day = 8
athletics =
conference =
slogan =
song =
fightsong =
motto = "Omnia discendo vinces"
accreditation =
rival = St Mary's C of E High School
mascot =
sports = Football, Netball
patron =
team_name =
nickname =
school_colours = Navy Blue
yearbook =
publication =
newspaper =
founded = 1914
status =
closed =
students =
sixth_form_students = 120
pupils = 1,269
alumni = Peter Mandelson, Gerald Ratner
nobel_laureates =
footnotes =
picture =
homepage = http://www.hendonschool.co.uk

Hendon School is a State Senior School in the London Borough of Barnet. [ [http://www.skillspace.com/LearningSystem/PortalHome/Portal.asp?Institution=hendon&parameter1=&parameter2=&Campus=&TimeNow=6%2F20%2F2008+1%3A36%3A02+AM Welcome to ] ] It specialises in Languages, offering Japanese amongst others to its students.

Admissions

Hendon School is a large, mixed comprehensive school with 1,222 pupils on roll, including 197 sixth form students just off the A502 and North Circular Road. It serves an area that is generally more affluent than average but has some pockets of deprivation. The pupil population is culturally diverse, multi-faith and multi-lingual; more than half the pupils have a mother tongue other than English, a proportion that is very high. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is above the national average. The proportion of pupils identified as having special educational needs is broadly average although the number who have a formal Statement of Special Educational Need is above average. The school is designated as a languages college and has a special facility for pupils whose hearing is impaired. The school was heavily over-subscribed.

History

Foundation in 1914

From middle ages onwards, successful City people wanted to live in pleasant countryside within range of London. Finchley Manor House had a long succession of such owners. Most such grand houses have now vanished: Hendon School now occupies the site where the famous 16th-century mapmaker John Norden lived, and only a pond survives from the park of Greenhill.

The County School, Hendon opened as a fee-paying school of 350 pupils in September 1914, just a month after the outbreak of the First World War. By 1927 the field at the back of the school was levelled and trees planted, and in 1929-1930 the building of the gymnasium was started. In 1931 the intake of pupils rose from a two form entry to a three form entry, and by 1932-3 the extension on the north side of the original school building was finished to enable accommodation of 480 pupils. In 1936 former pupil Harold Whitlock planted an oak tree sapling in front of the entrance to the gymnasium after being awarded a Gold Medal for the 50km walk by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympic Games. (Known unofficially as the "Hitler Tree")

Hendon County Grammar School

By 1955 the school had 600 pupils and 320 staff, and in 1961 the extension on the south side of the building, which included a new Hall, Dining Hall and kitchens, was officially opened. In the late 1960s, when plans for the reorganisation of secondary education were passed by Parliament, the London Borough of Barnet put forward, amongst other suggestions the amalgamation of Hendon County Grammar School, situated in "Golders Rise", with St David’s County Secondary School for Boys, in "St David’s Place" off "Park Road" in West Hendon.

Hendon Senior High School

In 1971 this merger took place and Hendon County became Hendon Senior High School and St David’s was renamed Hendon Junior High School. It was not until 1978, when all the new buildings on the Hendon County site were finished, that the whole school became completely integrated on one site and called by its present name Hendon School. During 1987-8 the school was threatened with closure by the London Borough of Barnet claiming falsely that it was no longer a viable institution, but by 1988-9 the school had survived the threat after being awarded Grant Maintained status by the Conservative Government.

Grant Maintained status

Extensions to the new buildings close to the perimeter on the south side of the site took place during the 1990s. The school currently has a eight form intake with over 1,300 pupils, 120 teachers and 30 ancillary staff as well as a Saturday School for Languages with 200 pupils and 11 teachers.

Former St David's County Secondary School pre-1971

On October 1 1929, Barnfield Senior Boys’ School opened in "Silkstream Road", Burnt Oak, Edgware with 267 boys. In January 1964 it amalgamated with Brent Secondary Modern School on its site in "Sturgess Avenue", West Hendon. Brent Modern School, a mixed school, had opened on January 7 1936 having been formerly inaugurated the previous October by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and daughter of Queen Victoria (there were three other schools built to the same design – Colindale, Frith Manor and one other that the writer is unable to remember). In readiness for the joining of the two schools new buildings were erected in "St David’s Place", and the two adjacent sites became one school named St David’s after its location. Originally it was to be named The Grahame-White School after Claude Grahame White, the famous English aviator who had established Hendon Aerodrome, and who played a seminal role in early British aviation, but his widow was reluctant to give her permission for this.

Today, the buildings of Barnfield School still exist. The adjacent primary school has taken over part of the original secondary school after it had been used by Middlesex Polytechnic, now known as Middlesex University since 1992. When they left it became a pupil referral unit, and now it has become a nursery school. At the St David’s location the Brent School building has been demolished, but the original St David’s school still stands along with other buildings which have been added to the site which is now named Parkfield Primary and Nursery School catering for children from the ages of three to eleven.

Academic results

Like many schools in the Barnet LEA, it gets good GCSE results. However at A level, it is well below the England average, in the bottom third of Barnet schools.

Headteacher

The headteacher is Kevin McKellar who has stated "We pride ourselves in being an excellent inclusive school. Our commitment to inclusion is absolute. At Hendon we celebrate the fact that everyone is unique. We value the contributions and views of others. More than anything, we are constantly reflective and we constantly strive to do a better job.

I love being the Headteacher of Hendon because it is simply an exciting place to be. I have the privilege of working with a uniformly dynamic and responsive team who are working tirelessly to raise standards. The students are simply fantastic. Student voice is loud and audible at Hendon. The students are very happy with the progress we are making. This is a rapidly improving school".

Notable alumni

* Antony Costa
* Harry Melling
* Charles Anderson<--NO
* Karis Benford
* Natalie Dinar
* Sara Gomes
* Brittany Khedun-Burgoine
* Melissa Pan

Hendon County Grammar School

* Philip Cohen (1956-63)
* Robin Jacob, film director
* Peter Mandelson (1965-72)
* Gerald Ratner

ee also

* List of schools in the London Borough of Barnet

References

External links

* [http://www.edubase.gov.uk/establishment/summary.xhtml?urn=101357 EduBase]