Evolution of the Buildings at NHEHS Liz Broekmann

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Evolution of the buildings at NHEHS

By E.Broekmann

One of the recurring themes in the history of Notting Hill has been ‘space’ – or lack of it! As a successful school, there have always been pressures on the space for classrooms and the lack of suitable playground space has frequently been lamented in school magazines and inspection reports throughout the history of the school. For most of its life, the school has occupied renovated houses which, even with alterations, have not always been suitable for teaching and learning. Now Notting Hill’s Junior School is to get a new home on the existing site. The proposed state-of-the-art building on the Redlands/Swallowfield site will be welcomed by both teachers and students, who will benefit from a spacious venue which meets the educational and physical needs of a modern, successful Junior School. Notting Hill High School first opened its doors on its original site in Norland Square on 16th September 1873 with 10 pupils ranging in age from 5 to 15 years. The numbers in all age groups increased steadily from day one so that by 1874 there were enough younger girls to justify setting up a kindergarten class with Miss Lord as their teacher. However, with the number of applications to the school as a whole continuing to increase, it was not long before space for the older girls was at such a premium that Miss Lord was persuaded to take the younger children and set up a separate kindergarten at 9 Norland Place in 1876. Miss Harriet Jones, the first Headmistress of Notting Hill, agreed that children from Miss Lord’s school who had reached the required standard would be given priority for admission to the High School and by the end of the 1880s, 14-15 girls were transferring each year. However, the increase in numbers in the high school meant that this arrangement could not be sustained. Therefore, Miss Lord’s kindergarten remained separate and a preparatory section was added to create an independent junior school. In about 1899 a new kindergarten was started at the High School and, for the first time, a handful of boys were admitted! In 1931 when the High School moved to Ealing, the Junior School, which had 60 pupils, remained in Notting Hill but it moved to 54 Holland Park which was a more suitable venue. Its garden, however, was very small so Princess Louise kindly allowed the children to play in a field at Kensington Palace. Meanwhile, a new Junior School was established in Ealing when the High School moved. It shared the building with the High School pupils and, with 136 children under the age of 11 being enrolled in the first year, it was not long before the Ealing buildings reached

capacity. By contrast, numbers at the Holland Park school were dropping steadily. In 1933 there were only 38 children, including 13 boys who would only stay one to two years. Therefore, the Trust decided to close the Holland Park school and in 1934, the remaining children were transferred to Ealing. The number of young children enrolling at NHEHS, combined with the extra juniors coming from Holland Park, meant that the issue of overcrowding raised its head once more. To solve the problem the Trust bought Redlands in 1934, a house to the rear of the High School, to accommodate the children from Kindergarten to 2L. Miss Beames, who had been in charge at Holland Park, was appointed Head of the Junior School. Renovations at Redlands were completed in 1935 and 108 pupils aged 5 to 9 were moved out of the building they shared with the older girls and into their own new space. Miss McCaig wrote in her 1935 report: ‘I should like to say how much we are enjoying the space and comfort due to the removal of over a hundred of the younger children to Redlands. This house has been most skilfully altered by Mr. Ashby to make a really charming Preparatory School.’ Not only did Redlands provide much-needed classroom space, but the grounds surrounding the building provided the largest playground the Junior School had ever had. Redlands, however, was almost immediately at capacity and the 38 kindergarten children at that time had to be split into two groups, one using the assembly hall as its classroom. As with the High School, the numbers in the Junior School continued to grow in the 1930s and 1940s and

Redlands driveway in 1961

once more, accommodation became a problem. In 1936, there were 133 children at Redlands, a building designed for 110! Commenting on this in her 1936 report, Miss McCaig attributed some of the problem to the continued presence of boys and expressed her frustration by saying ‘I am beginning to doubt the wisdom, with our present accommodation, of continuing to admit little boys who fill up a vacancy and often stay for a very short time.’ Despite her pleas, small numbers of boys remained until 1949! While Redlands provided vital classroom space for the NHEHS juniors during peacetime, it served a very different role during the War when, for a while, it was a temporary boarding house for girls who lived some distance from the school. By the end of the autumn term of 1940, 25 girls were boarding. During this period, all Junior School classes had to move back into the main senior school building, greatly adding to the already existing space pressures. In 1943, there was such a big increase in the number of pupils that the main school building could no longer hold both the junior and senior schools so at the end of the Spring Term, boarding ceased and the Junior School moved back to Redlands. However, Redlands was bursting at the seams and something had to be done urgently to alleviate the situation. Fortunately in 1946 the decision was made to purchase Skipton House, where the West Wing now is, for the 2 Upper and 3 Lower classes, the final two years of junior school. The house had been lived in by a former student at NHEHS called Miss Skipton, and it was previously called Mount Shadwell, but on becoming part of NHEHS the house was renamed Skipton House. In 1987, yet another building, Swallowfield, (the house next door to Redlands) was purchased by the Trust to provide the extra space needed for the still-growing lower school. Mrs Fitz, the Headmistress at the time, wrote in 1987

Redlands (late 1990s) Skipton House (circa. 1995)

“This year another long cherished dream is becoming a reality. The Trust has bought Swallowfield, the charming detached house next door to Redlands. We are anxiously awaiting news of the planning application for change of use, but in the meantime we are enthusiastically making plans for all the girls in the Junior school to be on one site. This will mean, of course, more space for all the girls in the school. Interestingly Swallowfield was built by the original owners of Redlands when they wanted a smaller house, so perhaps it is appropriate that it is now part of the school.” This enabled the girls in Skipton to be reunited with the rest of the Junior School and the expanding High School could gain some much-needed space. It took until 1992 to physically link Redlands and Swallowfields, to create one ‘united’ Junior School. At the time, Hilary Mellows, Head of the Junior Department wrote “Since September 1991 the junior school has been a building site, a place of hard hats, heavy machinery and drills which are all too reminiscent of a dentist's chair. It is exciting to watch our school growing bigger but we look forward to tranquillity again when the banging has stopped and the dust has disappeared. By September we shall have seven new form rooms, a wonderful light and airy hall and a huge CDT room. We shall have parallel forms from Year 1 (Preparatory) to Year 6 (3L) and 272 children altogether. Our present difficulties are dramatic but we are convinced that it will be worth all the inconvenience.” And now a new chapter begins to ensure NHEHS can continue to offer a first-class education, despite an inevitable period of ‘inconvenience’ in the interim.