Sir Walter St John's School
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Sir Walter St John’s School was founded in 1700 for twenty boys of the village of Battersea. As the population & the English educational system changed, so did the school. The school was colloquially known as “Sinjuns”
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[edit] Early history
In September 1700, Sir Walter St John, 3rd Baronet (1622-1708) signed a deed that established a charity to form a school to “teach twenty poor boys of said parish” (Battersea). This was the start of Sir Walter St John’s School, which was to survive for 286 years. By 1750, 83 boys and 5 girls were given instruction at the school. Battersea at the start of the 18th century was a village of some 200 dwellings containing about 1500 inhabitants. The rapid expansion of the London area during that & the following centuries, meant that there was a need of education for many more boys. A document of 1800 shows that the operation was based on the rules laid down by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and much of the curriculum was centred on the Bible.
[edit] Development
During the first 150 years the name Sir Walter St John was seldom used and the school was called the “Battersea School” or the “Battersea Charity School”. By 1832 the school had grown to hold 90 boys & 30 girls. In 1853 the Charitable Trust Act was enacted and the school passed under the control of the Charity Commissioners. The girls were soon transferred to the near-by Mrs Champion’s School. The number of boys had increased to over 200, so the school was split into an Upper School & a Lower School. A new building was constructed in 1859 on Battersea High Street designed by William Butterfield. The entry arch of this building still exists.
By 1860 the name “Sir Walter St John’s School” was being used. The Elementary Education Act 1870 had the result of splitting the Upper School with the newly founded Battersea Grammar School and in 1880 the Elementary School (part of the Lower School) was closed. The next change occurred in 1902, when the school was reorganised as a Secondary School.
[edit] School Buildings
Little is known of the early buildings before the Butterfield wing was built. Enlargement occurred in 1898 when the old science block was built. The Great Hall together with the West Block was opened in 1915, while the modified library & laboratory block started operation in 1926. Temporary classrooms were assembled in 1918 but remained in use until the north extension became available in 1938. A Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the west wing in 1941 but it was rebuilt in 1952. The final change in the school’s buildings happened in 1961, when the Science Block was replaced.
[edit] Operation in the first half of the 20th Century
The school was organised by the start of the 20th Century into six levels or forms. The Intermediate Degree Examination of the University of London being taken in the 6th form. To have competition in sports & to help tuition six houses were organised in 1910 and given names associated with Sir Walter (Beauchamp, Bletsoe, Bolingbroke, Grandison, Lydiard & Tregoze) A Army Cadet unit was also formed in 1910 which existed until 1969. An Air Training Corps Flight was started in 1941and continued after the disbandment of the army cadets. The number of boys in the school grew from 320 in 1917 to 544 in 1928 and remained at approximately at this level until the start of the Second World War in 1939. During this war the school with about 320 boys was evacuated to Godalming in Surrey, where it shared classrooms with the Godalming County School and Charterhouse School, a Public School.
[edit] Post war
After the return to Battersea, the school became Sir Walter St John’s Grammar School. By the early 1970s falling birthrate and governmental pressure was causing the closure or amalgamation of many schools. Such an amalgamation was planned in 1978 with the lower school (classes 1 to 3) going with the William Blake School & the Upper School remaining in Battersea High Street. The combined school was designated the Sir Walter St John’s Comprehensive School. There were about 500 students in the Upper School & 300 in the Lower.
[edit] Closure
The school was finally closed in 1986, when the students were transferred to the new Battersea Park School. The buildings remained unused from 1988 to 1990 when they were purchased by Thomas’s London Day School and once again boys & girls received education in Battersea High Street
[edit] Reference
“A History of Sir Walter St John’s School Battersea 1700-1986" by Frank T. Smallwood MA, FSA, edited by R D McNamara - pub Pentland Press - IBSN 1 85821 558 7
