RVHS Exposed - Special Edition 116 Years of Excellence

The site in Alderton Hill is now celebrating 116 years as a school. It has not always been Roding Valley High School and was formerly known as Loughton County HIgh School for Girls. To pay tribute to this 116-year anniversary, the students are have been researching the rich history of this beautiful school. We have all so enjoyed reading the old school ledgers and archives and creating this special edition of ‘Exposed’. A former student has written a lovely reflection of her time at the school and this can be viewed on the History of our school webpage, along with a sneak peek of some photos from the archive. A select few have been included in this edition.

I would like to give the students who participated in the creation of this edition a big well done as they have worked very hard to make this magazine what it is.

Contents 116 Years by Jenade Rayment The History of Roding Valley High School by Lola Boyle Loughton County High School for Girls by Lesley Aggrey Buckhurst Hill County High School: A Grey Tale about A Golden School

By Erin Weeks The opening of Roding Valley by Imogen Benjamin and Defne Eren An interview with Stephen Murray by Tommy Yeomans Artwork by Nicolae Perju and Nichita Ramascan Edited by Joseph James and Lola Boyle Produced by Miss M Richards

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116 years It has been 116 years since the school has opened I’m going to write about how we could improve the school for further education.

We could do more computer lessons and you could set the task online. We could also type our work up instead of people going can I have a pen or I left my book at home.

This school could improve but I think it’s perfect the way it is. It had been improved enough but maybe in the future my ideas might help .

By Jenade Rayment Year 8

By Nichita Ramascan (Y7)

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The History of Roding Valley High School

By Lola Boyle Roding Valley High School is a successful co-educational secondary school, catering to ages 11-18. The school itself is popular within the local community of Loughton, and prides itself as an inclusive and embracing school for all people and all cultures. The main values of Roding Valley High School are Aspiration, Respect, and Endeavour, which is reflected in its impressive grades and ambitious students. The Roding Valley we know today, was not always a part of Loughtons landscape, in fact, it was founded only in 1989, through the amalgamation of three schools.

Before 1989, three separate schools existed in areas surrounding Loughton: the Loughton County High School for Girls; the Buckhurst Hill County High School, and the Epping Forest High School.

The Loughton County High School for Girls: The school first opened in 1906, the first of the three, catering to only 29 girls, with one headmistress and one assistant headmistress.

However, along with an expansion on the building, the number of pupils began to grow. Two years later, in 1908, the first part of the building on Alderton Hill that we see today was constructed, and by 1929 there was accommodation for 450 girls; emphasising its rapid expansion and growth, and the perseverance of the staff and students at the school. Although, by 1954, the school catered to 550 students and staff, the growth was soon stunted. The transition from grammar schools to one single comprehensive school began in 1979.

The Buckhurst Hill County High School: In 1938 the new grammar school, Buckhurst Hill County High School, opened its doors, and was able to provide education for local boys for 50 years to come. Within this period, around 5,000 boys were enrolled with 300 staff employed; eventually becoming one of the most oversubscribed schools in the country. However, likewise to the Loughton County High School for Girls, there was a move towards becoming a comprehensive school, which occurred during the mid 1970s.

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Epping Forest High School: Epping Forest High School was a mixed school, catering to pupils from 11-18, and eventually closed down in 1989, merging with the Buckhurst Hill County High School, and the Loughton County High School for Girls.

In 1989, Roding Valley High School was officially formed, due to the closure in grammar schools and a focus on comprehensive schools. Since then, there have been many physical changes to the infrastructure, seen through the creation of the Brook Building as recent of 2018; but, the community spirit remained unchanged.

2022 marks the 116th year anniversary of the Loughton County High School for Girls, where lifelong friendships were made, and thousands were educated, which we can still see now in Roding Valley High School today.

Our House System:

Churchill House Named after Sir Winston Churchill, the great wartime leader and Prime Minister, who was a member of parliament of the area for over 30 years.

Hawking House Named after Professor Stephen Hawking, recognised for his contribution to Science. As sadly Professor Hawking passed while we were naming our houses, we thought it was a fitting tribute.

Pankhurst House Named after Sylvia Pankhurst, campaigner for votes for women, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst who lived in the local area for over 30 years.

Rendell House Named after Ruth Rendell, celebrated author who attended a local school that was one of the predecessors of Roding Valley High School.

Murray House Named after Lord Len Murray of Epping Forest. Lord Murray lived in Loughton for over 50 years and is the same person that Murray Hall is named after. A local resident who was a national figure.

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Loughton County High School for Girls

By Lesley Aggrey Did you know that ‘admiration, respect, endeavour’ wasn’t always the motto for Roding Valley High school? In fact, Roding Valley was founded in 1989 by the merger of three schools : Buckhurst Hill County School for boys, Epping Forest High School and Loughton County School for Girls. Loughton County High School opened 116 years ago in January 1906 and the school’s motto was ‘ the Utmost for the Highest’. I wonder what the school’s motto will be in 2138, 116 years from today.

Loughton High originally consisted of 29 girls, a headmistress, an assistant mistress and a visiting science master. In 1954 there were approximately 550 pupils and the staff, including the headmistress, numbered 30. In 2022, Roding Valley High School consists of over 1,200 students and over 70 teachers! The original 1906 prospectus shows the range of subjects the pupils studied.

We can see that core subjects such as maths, science and English have not changed because the girls at Loughton High also studied these in addition to other subjects such as: botany, needlework, and Latin.

Interestingly, Roding Valley’s school holidays are almost identical to Loughton County’s. For example, there was a three-week holiday at Christmas, two weeks at Easter and six weeks in the summer.

Moreover, having opened in 1906, involvement in both world wars was inevitable. During WW1 in 1915, one pupil wrote: “I had a letter from my cousin(sic). It came by first post. We haven’t got any second post now. We used to have. But the postmen are too expensive. That’s because of the war. Everything is because of the war.” It is also known that Loughton provided facilities to support the war effort. It seems that in the First World War, the school was used as a war hospital depot - a picture survives depicting this in the Essex Record Office.

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Furthermore, the school magazines in the period 1939 to 1945 paint a much clearer picture of the impact of the second world war on school life as the following extracts show.

“The Auxiliary Fire Service commandeered our school swimming pool. An anti-aircraft gun was also put in position on one of the school playing fields and soldiers took over the gym. Children were warned not to look across at the soldiers in the field and certainly not to speak to them."

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Buckhurst Hill County High School: A Grey Tale About A Golden School

By Erin Weeks 1939 the doors to Buckhurst Hill County High School opened and welcomed their first class of soon to be prestigious, young boys. Classrooms populated with accomplished teachers and eager pupils, Mr Taylor set a unanimous goal: create and maintain exceptional standards.

Bathed in the post war glory, the school embarked on its route to the summit of its academic success; developing students into scholars, politicians and educators en masse. Showcasing such commendable achievements, by former students, in the school magazine and through the gifting of various university shields, proudly displayed within the assembly hall, inspired high aspirations and encouraged pupils to climb the ladder of opportunity: a strategic endeavour formulated by the headteacher, who aimed to model the school on those in the private sector, which guaranteed an outstanding reputation and a collaborative student community.

Moreover, the school boasted tremendous talent in sports and other extracurricular activities, such as an extensive selection of societies to join, ranging from debating society to music society.

Undoubtedly, the boys at this school were fortunate, as they were allowed the opportunity for their interests and talents to be nurtured within the grounds of BHCHS through the headteacher’s abolition of the prefect system and head boy role instead favouring the introduction of democracy and creating the Sixth Form Council, enabling the boys to flourish into erudite young men.

However the school was to face its biggest challenge yet in 1965: the Labour government mandate to convert all schools into comprehensive schools. A change that would eliminate entry upon selection under the old tripartite system, which categorised pupils into three groups-

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grammar, secondary technical and secondary modern, would now allow all students, regardless of academic ability, to receive an equally rigorous education.

Here the school faced two hardships: resistance from local governments and planning a tumultuous integration all to be managed by a new headteacher, Mr Colgate.

Resistance from local governments is best illustrated through the 1972 Redbridge decision. Due to the awkward location of the school it attracted the majority of their students from the borough of Redbridge however the borough’s council introduced a policy which prevented pupils from attending schools outside of their borough.

Consequently, BHCHS faced the problem of not being able to meet the normal three-form entry due to the drop in the number of prospective pupils.

After the plan to merge with Loughton County in 1974 was scrapped a simultaneous proposal to create a joint sixth form building at brook school was in the works, admittedly not approved until several years later. Merging a grammar school with a secondary modern school in order to create a sixth form centre wasn’t expected to be a smooth transition. Disparity between resources, incongruity of pupils' attitudes towards learning, and the 2 mile gulf between the two schools made for an uphill battle. Yet with the same calculated elegance the BHCHS adapted to the changes highlighting how forthcoming the establishment was to evolving with the times.

However, despite the school's optimism and Mr Colgate's best efforts to keep the school open while it was transitioning, it was a burden that he carried up until his retirement in 1985. By then the school was doomed to close. Perhaps it was the declining birth rate or the price of the land the school sat upon which led to the closure or perhaps it was an amalgamation of all these events. Though the ending of this school’s story remains clear: a once golden school was to become only a shadow in the memories of former pupils.

Nevertheless, with past tragedy comes lessons for future success.

After asking Mr Frankel, a former student and editor of the Old Buckwellians Newsletter, if there is anything that schools can learn from the history of BHCHS he stressed the importance of schools valuing and preserving their history by keeping in 10

contact with their former students perhaps best exemplified through the work Mr Frankel does in order to keep the legacy of BHCHS alive. It's important for us as local students to be aware of what we’re a part of: the creation of RVHS wouldn’t have been possible if BHCHS had remained open.

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Opening of Roding Valley High School and Epping Forest High School

By Imogen Benjamin and Defne Eren Roding Valley High School opened in 1989 ( so about 33 years ago ). It has been 116 years since the building was founded. One of the many schools before RVHS was Epping Forest High School.

RVHS has a number of long-standing traditions that they still have from this day.This school has always strived to offer the best possible education and opportunities to all their pupils from this school.

Roding Valley was an amalgamation of three very different schools within our local community one of which was Epping Forest High school.

One highlight of the early days was the official opening on the 15th May 1991 by HRH The Princess Royal.She arrived on the area which is now our upgraded all weather surface by the sports hall and the entire 1,200 pupils were lined up for this special occasion.

Epping Forest High School closed on the 31st of August 1989.This school was a mix,boys and girls school with children attending from age 11 to 18.

Scans from 91-92 RVHS Yearbook

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An Interview with Stephen Murray – Our longest standing member of staff

By Tommy Yeomans What is one of the best memories you have had at this school?

Mr Murray : “About 9 years ago, the sixth form was going to be set up because it was something the school needed and wanted for a long time. So there were people who were really happy and now I have seen how the sixth form has grown and flourished, it has been fantastic!”

Which member of staff (ex or current) has been your favourite since being here?

Mr Murray : “That's a really difficult question. I have just had so many, I really wouldn't want to single anyone out. I think the quality of staff overall ever since I've been here has been really good, obviously there have been stronger and weaker ones but I really couldnt and wouldnt want to pick out a single one to be honest.”

What party of the whole school block is your favourite part?

Mr Murray : “I think my favourite part must be the brook centre because that's where the sixth form is and that's where the old library used to be and I used to be the school librarian. So yeah I think it has to be the brook centre.”

Where do you see this school in 10 years?

Mr Murray : “Really still at the heart of our local committee, providing a first class education for local teenagers. Sadly without Mr Murray, Mr Murray can’t go forever so I think in 10 years time we can safely say Mr Murray won't be in Roding Valley High School. I've been here for 33 years and I don't intend going anywhere for at least for a couple of years.”

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By Nicolae Perju (Y7)

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The Future of Roding Valley High School…

Miss Richards We believe Roding Valley High School is not only a place where students receive a fantastic education, but a place where core memories are made and lifelong friendships are created.

We have an outstanding staff who consistently go above and beyond to make sure that students are working to the very best of their ability.

The future of Roding Valley is bright, and we are all looking forward to where we can go next.

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