Holland Park School
| Motto | schola necesse est mori |
|---|---|
| Established | 1958 |
| Type | Academy, Comprehensive |
| Headteacher | Colin Hall |
| Location |
Airlie Gardens Campden Hill Road London W8 7AF England |
| Local authority | Kensington and Chelsea |
| DfE number | 207/4320 |
| DfE URN | 140134 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
| Students | 1,343 (2014) |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Anderson, Baker, Bennett, Chappell, Seeley |
| Colours | Blue, Black |
| Website | Holland Park School |
Holland Park School is a Coeducational secondary school and sixth form in Holland Park, London, England. In 2013, it has attained academy status. Opened in 1958, the school became the flagship for comprehensive education, and at one time had over 2,000 students. A number of high-profile socialists sent their children to Holland Park School, and it became known as "the socialist Eton". The Labour politician Tony Benn and his wife Caroline sent all four of their children to the school.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Holland Park School philosophy was to ensure large student numbers (over 1,900) with the idea that the resulting size would enable more subject choices for the students. Indeed, amongst the more typical foreign languages Latin, Russian and Spanish were taught.
In the early 1960s, each school year was divided into A, B, C, D, and E streams up until the 3rd year. As the groups were so large, they were again divided, typically into 3. Later the "A" "B" etc. grading was considered to be bad for children's self-esteem, so "A" "B" and "C" were replaced by "H" "P" and "S" (Holland Park School). Nowadays, the banding system is divided into 4 bands, each with 3 levels inside them.
In 1970, streaming was completely scrapped in favour of total egalitarianism. Another aspect of egalitarian thought was that many school traditions were dropped and in the 1970s there were no awards for academic achievement, in order not to demoralise low achievers. Dr Rushworth, who became head in 1971, nevertheless favoured high achievement in niche areas, and himself continued to teach Latin to children who requested lessons. His motto was "Everyone should know about everything," and critics saw this as leading to a dumbing down of the curriculum.
The theory was that poorly achieving students would perform better if not segregated, but rather immersed in an equal learning environment. Some argue that such an educational philosophy causes teaching to drop to the lowest common denominator, and in the 1990s the school began to revert to more traditional teaching practices.
Loyalists of the egalitarian approach argue that the experiment was never given a proper chance: Holland Park was the only fully comprehensive school in a borough where middle class parents tended to favour private schools. Therefore, by definition, it was a sink school and thus some argue that the comprehensive experiment was never fully realised. Critics counter that the school was on a downward spiral and "more of the same" would only have worsened the situation. They hold that the school's improved performance when it returned to more traditional values is evidence the comprehensive experiment was doomed from the outset.
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