Forest Hill School
A vertical, black and white logo with a rectangular border composed of an oval containing stylised trees. Below the oval is a with the school's name.
The Forest Hill School logo
Location
Forest Hill
,
London Borough of Lewisham

England
Coordinates51°25′54″N 0°02′52″W / 51.4318°N 0.0477°W / 51.4318; -0.0477
Information
TypeCommunity school
Established1956
Local authorityLewisham
Department for Education URN100745 Tables
OfstedReports
Head teacherMichael Sullivan
GenderBoys (Girls in Sixth Form)
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1255 (2021-2022)
Sixth form students231
HousesOfosu-Asare (Red)
Turing (Yellow)
Parks (Blue)
Tull (Green)
Websiteforesthill.lewisham.sch.uk

Forest Hill School is a boys' secondary school and sixth form located in Forest Hill, in the London Borough of Lewisham. The school is in federation with the girls' secondary, Sydenham School, which is nearby.

In 2005 the school was given Performing Arts status for its Drama, Dance, Music and Art courses and currently has a silver artsmark from the English Arts Council.[1][2] The school has an Investors in People award, and in October 2021, it became the first school in London to receive the Stonewall School Champion Gold award.[3][4][5]

As of the 2021–2022 academic year, 1255 students were enrolled at the school, including 231 enrolled in the sixth form.[6]

History

Forest Hill Comprehensive School opened in September 1956. It was built on the site of St. Magnus, a large house that was the home of Baron Johann Knoop from 1870 and 1900. In the Second World War it became a Heavy Recovery Centre, dealing with bomb damage. After the War it fell into disrepair.

The School was a flagship of the London County Council's new policy of building comprehensive schools that aimed to breakdown the previous national policy of selecting children, largely on 11-plus results, to attend grammar, technical or secondary modern schools. It eventually grew to around 1,500 boys.

The first head teacher was Alexander E. Howard, who was a leading national figure in technical education.[7] In its early years the school attracted considerable interest from educationalists. The following is a report of a visit to the school in July 1957 by the American educationalist Flaud C. Wooton.

I spent June 4, 1957, with William H. Perkins (Educational Director, Imperial Chemicals, Ltd., London) and John Aseltine (San Diego educator) at the London County Council comprehensive school at Forest Hill. That school was opened in September, 1956, and currently enrolls 900 to 1000 boys. Its buildings are new and among the best I saw last spring in eight countries of Europe. The teaching staff is relatively young, well trained, vigorous, and enthusiastic. Above all, the headmaster, Mr. A. E. Howard, in frank discussion, revealed educational ideas and described the school's purposes and practices with combined competence and optimism. As the English comprehensive school spreads, it will, if it lives up to Forest Hill, brighten the future of secondary education in Great Britain.[8]

Forest Hill School from Mayow Road, late 1950s. The prominent position of the distinctive Library indicated the academic ambitions of the School.

The academic quality of the early cadre of teachers is indicated by the careers that some went on to. Paul Ashbee became Professor of Archaeology at the University of Anglia. Laurie Taylor (sociologist) taught English and Drama and went on to a distinguished career in Sociology and broadcasting. Brian Brookes, who taught botany, went on to become a leading naturalist, with expertise in the plants of the Scottish Highlands, and an environmental consultant, being awarded the MBE in 1983 for his services to education.[9] David Stanbury, who taught Biology and became the School's third Headmaster, researched and wrote on Robert Fitzroy, the captain of HMS Beagle, on which Charles Darwin was naturalist.[10] Christ's College Cambridge holds a collection of Stanbury's papers.[11]

The School attracted press attention with many of its activities in the 1960s.[12] In 1962, the School organised a trip to the United States, which the Daily Mirror headlined: 'An Exceptional School ... With Exceptional Boys: 76 Ambassadors from London SE23'.[13] It was described as "a grammar, technical, commercial, central and modern school – all in one", with one boy quoted as saying "None of the boys would change Forest Hill School for Eton."[13] The school also had its own film unit and produced feature-length films including Twenty Four Hundred Pennies (1962)[14] and The Custard Boys (1979)[15] which starred pupils and staff from the school.

In 2016 the school was forced to cut costs by an annual £1.3m, as funding had been cut as part of a political decision at Westminster.[16] The school has since stabilised its financial situation.

Current

In 2005 the school was given Performing Arts status for its Drama, Dance, Music and Art courses. The school has an Investors in People award, and in October 2021, it became the first school in London to receive the Stonewall School Champion Gold award.[3][4][5]

Houses

The four houses of Forest Hill were named after famous people of the 16th, 17th, 18th and early 20th centuries. Originally there were six houses, but two were later dropped: Browning and Newton. When there were six houses, Browning's house colour was red, Drake's dark blue, Reynold's light blue and Newton's maroon. The houses went on to become Drake (Red), Harvey (Yellow), Reynolds (light blue) and Shackleton (dark green).

Following a review process that began in October 2019, the school decided to update the names to reflect the diversity of the school and the surrounding community, as well as modern values.[17] A selection process, which included consultations with students, resulted in four new figures being selected as the house names. These were: Ofosu-Asare (formerly Drake), named after Kwame Ofosu-Asare, a former student of the school who was killed in a knife crime due to mistaken identity in 2012,[18][19] Turing (formerly Harvey), Parks (formerly Reynolds) and Tull (formerly Shackleton). These changes were put into effect in September 2020.[17]

The new main building of Forest Hill School seen during redevelopment in September 2007

Redevelopment

Sports Hall

In 2006 the school's new £4.5M state-of-the-art sports facility was opened with lottery funding and help with Sport England and The FA Charter Standard Schools Program.[20] The facility features a large air conditioned sports hall with basketball nets, indoor cricket, indoor football markings and goals and a scoreboard. The other part of the gym includes a fitness suite, cafè, space for trampolining and table tennis, new changing room facilities with showers and also two of the old three gyms. The sports centre opened on top of Gym 3, but was also expanded towards Bampton Road on the other side of the school.

Main building

The new school during redevelopment

The school began a major redevelopment project in July 2006 which completed in January 2008.[21] The only part of the school which remains unchanged is the current art block, which was built recently. The rest of the school was demolished and rebuilt from the ground up with the three floor plan changed to a higher four story building. The new school building now features a large atrium which can also act as a fully functioning theatre, two fully equipped drama rooms, a separate theatre, a fully equipped music department with a Recording studio and a Mac computer room. There is also a dance studio with sprung floors, mirrors, and a 600 watt speaker system.

Notable people educated at Forest Hill School

References

  1. ↑ Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Archived April 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Artsmark Archived 2007-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 "Forest Hill School wins Stonewall School Champion Gold award". Lewisham Council. 12 October 2021. Archived from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 O'Byrne Mulligan, Euan (15 November 2021). "Forest Hill boys' school wins top award for LGBTQ+ inclusion work". News Shopper. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Forest Hill School becomes only school in London to win prestigious LGBTQ+ award – Education Today". Education Today. 13 November 2021. Archived from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  6. ↑ Quaye, Jeffery; Southworth, Mark; Kennedy, Rosemarie; Clemens, Nigel; Maguire, Susan (8 February 2022). Inspection of Forest Hill School (Report). Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  7. ↑ A.E. Howard, 'Technical Subjects in Secondary Schools', Education + Training, 1 (1959), 7–9, doi: 10.1108/eb001539
  8. ↑ Flaud C. Wooton in History of Education Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Autumn, 1956), pp. 28–30.
  9. ↑ A. Burns, 'Obituary: Brian Brookes', Watsonia, 24 (2001), 125–6; M Lawley, 'Brian Sydney Brookes', Journal of Bryology, 23 (2001) 345-345, DOI: 10.1179/jbr.2001.23.4.345
  10. ↑ D. Stanbury, A Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S.Beagle, London: Folio Society, 1977.
  11. ↑ Roper, Amelie (5 January 2017). "College Archives". Christ's College Cambridge. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017.
  12. ↑ 'Full Marks ... for "all-in" schools', Daily Mirror, 24 October 1961; 'Royal Cruise for 5 Boys and a Girl', Daily Mirror, 17 April 1965, 3.
  13. 1 2 Scott, Dixon (17 August 1962). "76 Ambassadors from London SE23". Daily Mirror. pp. 10–11.
  14. ↑ "Twenty Four Hundred Pennies (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Twenty Four Hundred Pennies (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  16. ↑ Weale, Sally (18 July 2017). "One out, all out! The school where cuts are pushing teachers to the brink". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  17. 1 2 "School Houses". Forest Hill School. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  18. ↑ "Kwame Ofosu-Asare death trial: Innocent teen 'caught in gang feud'". BBC News. 27 November 2012. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  19. ↑ "Two teenagers get life sentences for murdering innocent schoolboy". The Guardian. Associated Press. 18 December 2012. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  20. ↑ "TheFA.com – Charter Standard Schools". Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  21. ↑ "Forest Hill School, Specialist School in Performing Arts". Archived from the original on 24 January 2007.
  22. ↑ "YOUNGEST EVER TO HOLD BLACK BELT". Lewisham Borough News. 18 September 1962. p. 9. Retrieved 30 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. Then came his chance to go to Japan while still a pupil at the Forest Hill Comprehensive School.
  23. ↑ "Brian Albert Thomas Jacks Biography, Olympic Medals, Records and Age". Olympics.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  24. ↑ "Superstars: A brief history". BBC. 5 November 2004. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2006.
  25. ↑ Smale, Kelly (7 June 2010). "FOREST HILL: Twist and Pulse claim second spot on Britain's Got Talent". News Shopper. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022. Glen, who previously attended Forest Hill Boys School in Dacres Road, Forest Hill, works as a professional dancer and choreographer, teaching in various schools.
  26. ↑ Courtney, Dave (1999). Stop the Ride I Want to Get Off: An Autobiography. Virgin Books. p. 17. ISBN 9780753504628 – via Internet Archive.
  27. ↑ "Dave Courtney reformed gangster avoids jail possessing single bullet". Bristol Post. Archived from the original on 7 May 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  28. ↑ "BBC News – UK – Reggie Kray dies". bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  29. ↑ Hodgkinson, Will (19 September 2018). "King Krule: 'The Ooz is an album for weirdos like me'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023. Marshall went to a variety of schools including Forest Hill boys' school and the Brit School in Croydon, but he wasn't exactly an ideal pupil and ended up doing a stint in a referral unit for excluded children.
  30. ↑ Lamont, Tom (24 January 2016). "King Krule: 'We're two halves of a puzzle'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023. When he turned 13, Archy started to have difficulties at his secondary in Forest Hill, difficulties, by the sound of it, that stemmed from his never being there.
  31. ↑ "How did Joe Gomez become a Premier League champion? We asked his PE teacher". Lewisham London Borough Council. 24 July 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021. Liverpool FC and England footballer Joe Gomez, is a former pupil at Forest Hill School and Lewisham resident and is currently celebrating winning the Premier League for the first time.
  32. ↑ "Junior mentor backing Joe Gomez for big Liverpool season - Tribal Football". www.tribalfootball.com. 13 January 2024. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024. His former football coach at Forest Hill School, Gary Taylor, is looking forward to seeing him back in action.
  33. ↑ "Forest Hill's Emmanuel Olaniyan, 15, becomes Young Mayor of Lewisham". News Shopper. 18 October 2013. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  34. ↑ Hester, Lacey (13 June 2014). "Interview with Sean Scully". Financial Times. Have you ever taken an IQ test?. Archived from the original on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  35. ↑ "The Shouting Men: A chance to shine". Kent Online. 10 August 2018. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022. My school, Forest Hill, had a lot of footballers in it too, the likes of Joe Gomez (Liverpool) and Kasey Palmer (Chelsea).
  36. ↑ "Ellington is golden boy who Don good". News Shopper. 23 July 2003. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2021. Outstanding among those victories and easily voted the performance of the meeting, was that of James Ellington, who is 18 and attends Forest Hill School.
  37. ↑ "Sam Wilkinson through to live semi-final of The Voice Kids – and to star in his Forest Hill school's talent show". South London Press. 13 July 2019. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  38. ↑ "The Voice Kids 2019: The winner is Sam Wilkinson". Newsround. 28 July 2019. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  39. ↑ Tutton, Charlotte (27 July 2019). "The Voice Kids 2019 winner revealed as Sam Wilkinson named champion during final". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
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