Forest Hill School
 |
|
| Established | 1956 |
|---|---|
| Type | Secondary Comprehensive |
| Headteacher | Mike Sullivan |
| Location |
Forest Hill London Borough of Lewisham England Coordinates: 51°25′54″N 0°02′52″W / 51.4318°N 0.0477°W |
| Local authority | Lewisham |
| DfE URN | 100745 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 1360 |
| Gender | Boys (Girls in Sixth Form) |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Drake (Red) Harvey (Yellow) Reynolds (Light Blue) Shackleton (Green) |
| Publication | Our Voice |
| Website | Forest Hill School Website |
History
Forest Hill Comprehensive School opened in September 1956. It was a flagship school for 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 a role of around 1,400 boys. Pastoral care was organised through six houses, each with seven mixed-year tutor groups. For academic subjects, boys were divided into nine forms by general ability, with sets for Maths and English.
The first head teacher was Alexander E. Howard, who was a leading national figure in technical education. 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 ForestHill, brighten the future of secondary education in Great Britain.
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 is now best known for his broadcasting, especially the Radio 4 series ‘Thinking Allowed’. Brian Brookes, who taught Botany, went on to become a leading naturalist, with expertise in the plants of the Scottish Highlands, and environmental consultant, being awarded the MBE in 1983 for his services to education. David Stanbury, who taught Biology and became the School’s third Headmaster, researched and wrote on Robert Fitzroy, the Captain of the HMS Beagle, on which Charles Darwin was naturalist. Christ’s College Cambridge holds a collection of Stanbury’s papers.
The School attracted press attention with many of its activities in the 1960s. 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’. 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’
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