Dick Sheppard School

Dick Sheppard School

Established	1955
Closed	1994
Type	Secondary Comprehensive
Location	Tulse Hill Lambeth London England
Gender	Girls then Mixed
Ages	11–18

Coordinates: 51°27′01″N 0°06′44″W / 51.4502°N 0.1122°W / 51.4502; -0.1122

Dick Sheppard School was a large school, originally for girls, at Tulse Hill in the South London borough of Lambeth. It was founded as the sister establishment to Tulse Hill School for boys and as the Comprehensive alternative to St Martin-In-The-Fields High School for Girls. In the late 1970s it absorbed the remaining male pupils of nearby Strand School and continued as a co-educational school until its closure in 1994.

History

The school was established by the London County Council in 1955.^[1] It was named after the Anglican clergyman, Dick Sheppard, noted for turning St Martin-in-the-Fields church into a social centre for the needy and destitute of central London. The name thus resonated with that of the local girls’ grammar school, St Martin-In-The-Fields High School. The school was at its inception well equipped and, like Tulse Hill School, was seen at the time as in the vanguard of comprehensive education.

In 1972 the Inner London Education Authority proposed that Strand School be closed and its pupils transferred to Dick Sheppard. The Strand and Tulse Hill buildings, within close proximity of each other, were to form a single new comprehensive school. Margaret Thatcher, at the time the Secretary of State for Education, approved the closure but not the alterations to Tulse Hill, or the proposed extensions to Dick Sheppard. Parents of Strand pupils chose to contest the closure in the courts. As a result, an injunction forbidding closure was granted in May 1972; and a second application to the minister, in July 1972, was turned down in January of the following year.^[2] Noting the objections of those who were particularly concerned to retain a local comprehensive school for girls, Thatcher stated in the House of Commons that to make the school a co-educational establishment would be to go against those wishes.^[2]

By the late 1970s, however, Strand School was closed down. Its remnants were merged with Dick Sheppard, resulting in its becoming a co-educational school after all. In 1981 Paul S. Farmer became Deputy Head, and subsequently Head Teacher aged only 33.^[3] and later described as the Inner London Education Authority's (ILEA's) youngest head.^[4]

When Farmer was still deputy head the school had the first black chairman of governors within the ILEA, Janet Boateng (wife of Paul Boateng) who, when ousted by her fellow Labour Party councillors in 1983, accused the school of "deep seated racism".^[5] Farmer's time as head coincided with widespread industrial action^[6], and he presided over a turbulent period in the school's history. Dick North, a leading militant NUT member was Head of Maths^[7]. Farmer was reputedly and controversially the only ILEA head to discipline staff for taking unofficial strike action in not covering absent staff. The disciplinary action was not supported by his governors. In 1984 Dick Sheppard was one of four schools in the country featured in a Daily Express enquiry into "Britain's failing comprehensive schools",^[8] and was later in the vanguard of schools engaged in 'non-competitive sport' which attracted national varied interest.^[9]

An unofficial walk-out by the staff produced the headline in The Daily Telegraph: Children 'ran wild in NUT walk-out',^[10] an occasion when discipline was described by Inner London Education Authority member Anne Sofer as "completely out of hand".^[11] It also featured in a House of Lords debate on 5 February 1986 by Lord Ritchie of Dundee (Hansard cc 1175).^[12]

There was positive press as well, such as during the visit by The Prince and Princess of Wales in January 1982.^[13] By 1987 The Observer described the school as a "ray of hope...now making strenuous efforts to improve itself, not without success",^[14] while The London Evening Standard in a 'fact file' on the area listed the school as "one of the best".^[15]

The school continued as such until it was itself closed down in 1994. Lambeth Council was quoted as saying that Dick Sheppard was closed because "like many other schools in the area, it was failing." The supposed "near bankruptcy" of the local education authority has also been suggested.^[16]

Of all four schools, the only one to survive the rigours of improvement and shifting education policy was St Martin-In-The-Fields. Tulse Hill closed in 1990. The site of Dick Sheppard School was sold by Lambeth Council in 1997 for £10 million to make way for luxury housing.^[16] This adds credibility to the thesis that it was the financial position of Lambeth Council rather than the perceived success or failure of the school that was behind the decision to close the school.

Alumni

• Paulette Randall, actor and producer.
• Tim Roth, actor, who joined Dick Sheppard on the closure of Strand School (see above).

References

1. ^ London County Council, (1962), Secondary Schools in Bermondsey, Lambeth and Southwark, Division 8
2. ^ ^{a b} House of Commons Speech by Margaret Thatcher (Secondary Education (Opposition motion)), (1973 Feb 1), (Hansard HC [849/1639-68])
3. ^ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38400998827&v=wall&viewas=0#!/group.php?gid=38400998827&v=wall
4. ^ South London press, 25 September 1987, pg 14
5. ^ West Indian World, 12 October 1983; 'Race tension as governors drop black chairman' in Times Educational Supplement, 14 October 1983
6. ^ '1970-1997: conflict and campaigning', from NUT History,http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/8515#7
7. ^ see pg 44 of Walter Roy's Teaching Under Attack 1983 Croom Helm 0-7099-2212-4
8. ^ 5 September 1984, pg 13
9. ^ Burgers nibble away at sport, The Daily Telegraph, 27 November 1986; Lone Labour council opposes competetive sport, The Times, 18 November 1989
10. ^ The Daily Telegraph, 11.12.1985, pg 2
11. ^ Labour bars ILEA far-Left inquiry, London Standard, 11 December 1985
12. ^ Education: Avoidance of Politicisation (Hansard, 5 February 1986)
13. ^ YouTube - ‪Princess Diana in South London‬‏
14. ^ 9 August 1987
15. ^ 6 May 1987, pg 24
16. ^ ^{a b} Guardian Unlimited, Filling The Gap, Friday April 15, 2005