Hackney Downs School

Hackney Downs School was an 11–16 boys, community comprehensive secondary school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy.

History

Grocers' Company's School

It was founded in 1876 as The Grocers' Company's School. On its transfer to the London County Council in 1906 the school was renamed Hackney Downs School.

Second World War

The school was evacuated to King's Lynn on Friday 13 October 1939. Only half of those eligible to be evacuated moved to King's Lynn. Sir Michael Caine would join the school in 1944 in King's Lynn, and had been evacuated to North Runcton in 1939. Maurice Vile, Barry Supple and painter Leon Kossoff were evacuated with the school. 370 boys and teachers had been in the Norfolk villages of Outwell and Upwell since 2 September 1939, where they had worked in the orchards. Had the boys stayed in east London, they could have been in real obvious danger. The renowned nutritionist John Yudkin, who went to the school in the 1920s, gave a lecture in King's Lynn on 'Health in Wartime' on Friday 12 September 1941. Harold Pinter was evacuated in 1944, with a schoolmaster, which he wrote about in his play A Slight Ache. The school stayed until July 1945, after almost six years.

Grammar school

The school was noted for educating Jewish Londoners, with alumni including Nobel prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, fellow playwright and actor Steven Berkoff, 1960s tycoon John Bloom and nutritionist John Yudkin. Two current members of the House of Lords are former pupils: (Lord Levy and Lord Clinton-Davis). The school had 600 boys with a sixth-form entry by the early 1970s. Former high jumper and Board Director of London 2012 Olympics Bid Team Dalton Grant attended Hackney Downs School in the 1980s.

Comprehensive

In 1969 it became a comprehensive school. By the time of its closure, over 70 per cent of the boys spoke English as a second language, half came from households with no-one in employment, and half the intake had reading ages three years below average.

Decline and closure

Things came to a head in the 1990s, when the school made national news by being described by the then Conservative government as the 'worst school in Britain'. Eventually, as a result of direct government pressure, the school was forced to close in 1995.

Later use of the building

The site of the old school is now occupied by Mossbourne Community Academy, founded by Sir Clive Bourne, which opened in 2004. The school buildings of both the original Grocers' Company's School and Hackney Downs School have gone.

Old boys

The Old Boys of Hackney Downs continue their interactions as alumni through the Clove Club, which meets regularly, has its own website, and sponsors an email group called The Clove eGroup (on Yahoo), and featured on The Clove Club website.

History of the school

An official history of the school was published by the Clove Club in 1972. An updated edition was published in 2012: Hackney Downs 1876-1995: The Life and Death of a School.

Headmasters

John Kemp was headmaster from 1974 to 1989.

Notable alumni