Stratford School is a secondary

academy school An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. 80% ...

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. ...

in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by ...

, England. It has no

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

Location

It is situated on Upton Lane (A114). Nearby to the west is the

Newham College of Further Education Newham College is a large general further education college in the London Borough of Newham, England, established in 1985. The college's main site is in East Ham, with a further site in Stratford and six further local neighbourhood learning ce ...

, and further west is the site of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Opposite the school is

West Ham Park West Ham Park is a privately owned public space, privately owned public park in West Ham in the London Borough of Newham. Spanning , it is the largest park in the borough. The park has been managed by the City of London Corporation since 1874. ...

History

Stratford Grammar School, Grosvenor Road, originated in 1906, when West Ham Municipal Central Secondary (mixed) School was opened in Whalebone Lane and Tennyson Road, in buildings for 680, planned by the school board as a higher elementary school. The initial intake of 369 included the pupil-teachers from two centres opened by the school board in 1894 and given permanent buildings in Russell Road (1896) and Water Lane (1897). The last preparatory pupil-teachers were selected in 1909, and from 1912 bursaries were granted to intending teachers who followed a full secondary course. This bursary scheme ended in 1936. The school was enlarged in 1914, ''c''.1920, and again in 1931. Between the two world wars, when attendance was about 600, its reputation as a

central school A central school was a selective secondary education school with a focus on technical and commercial skills in the English education system. It was positioned between the more academic grammar schools and the ordinary elementary schools where m ...

was very high. The term 'Central' was dropped from its name in 1925. The school was partly destroyed by bombing in 1941, after which some temporary huts were added. It became Stratford Grammar School in 1945, and in 1958 it was transferred to new buildings on the site of the former Upton Lane school. In 1960 the Head Teacher was Mr Arnold G Burness and there was a four form entry of about 120 pupils per year. There was also a lower and upper sixth form. It became a sixth-form-entry comprehensive in 1972. The school officially gained academy status on 1 August 2011. It gets

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

results well above average.

Tradition

When the school moved to the newly developed Upton Lane site in 1958 a statue of an owl was mounted near the main entrance. The owl was said to represent wisdom, but as the owl also featured on the school uniform logo pupils were known locally as members of the Ollie Beak fan club. This was a reference to the owl puppet on the popular children's TV programme

Tuesday Rendezvous ''Tuesday Rendezvous'' was a British children's television show which was transmitted on Tuesdays and Fridays. It was made by Associated-Rediffusion for ITV. History Howard Williams (replaced by Wally Whyton), Muriel Young and Bert Weedon (the ...

with this name. At this time pupils were assigned to one of four houses: Fry (green), Gurney (blue), Langthorne (yellow) and Lister (red) named after

Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...

, Samuel Gurney,

Stratford Langthorne Abbey Stratford Langthorne Abbey, or the Abbey of St Mary's, Stratford Langthorne was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1135 at Stratford Langthorne — then Essex but now Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. The Abbey, also known as West Ha ...

, and

Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and pioneer of aseptic, antiseptic surgery and preventive healthcare. Joseph Lister revolutionised the Sur ...

. Before 2005 the school uniform consisted of purple blazers, however it changed in September 2005 to black. Each year group has colour-coded badges. Each pupil is also in one of six houses, Curie, Noether, Euler, Crick, Hawking, Berners-Lee; each denoted by a different colour stripe on their tie.

Notable former pupils

;West Ham Secondary School *

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes Order of the British Empire, CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2 ...

, film star and director *

Ron Pickering Ronald James Pickering (4 May 1930 – 13 February 1991) was an athletics coach and BBC sports commentator. Early life and education Pickering was born in Hackney. His father was a sign fixer. He became head boy at West Ham Secondary School ( ...

, Olympic team coach and TV sports presenter - formerly also sports master at the school in the 1950s ;Stratford Grammar School *Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman since 2007 of the BBC Trust and Chief Executive from 1994-2001 of Birmingham City Council * Alan Baker, mathematician involved with number theory and Professor of Pure Mathematics from 1974-2006 at the University of Cambridge * Jean Pickering, Olympic athlete.Ford, Martin (28 March 2013)
Athletics world pays tribute to former Broxbourne resident Jean Pickering
''Hertfordshire Mercury''. Retrieved on 31 August 2022. * Terry Smith, Chief of Collins Stewart since 2000 (became Tullett Prebon in 2006)

References

External links

EduBase
{{authority control Academies in the London Borough of Newham Secondary schools in the London Borough of Newham Forest Gate