Fortismere School

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Fortismere School
Established 1983
Type Foundation school
Headteacher Aydin Önaç
Specialisms Technology, Maths and Computing, and Music
Location Tetherdown (South Wing, Creighton Avenue (North Wing)
Muswell Hill
London
N10 1NS (South Wing)
N10 1NE (North Wing)
England
LEA London Borough of Haringey
Ofsted number 102156
Students c. 1650
Gender Co-educational
Ages 11 to 18
Website Fortismere on the Hill
Coordinates: 51°35′34″N 0°09′03″W / 51.59285, -0.15095

Fortismere School is a mixed, community Foundation School secondary school in Muswell Hill, London, United Kingdom. It falls under the London Borough of Haringey Local Education Authority. The school is situated on an extensive site a little west of the town centre, with main entrances on Tetherdown (South Wing) and Creighton Avenue (North Wing). Tetherdown is directly next to muswell hill broadway, where as Crieghton avenue entrance is opposite coldfall woods allowing a nice location which the school is situated in.

Contents

[edit] History

The first school on the site was Tollington School, a private boys' school. After World War II, this became a state grammar school and the attached preparatory school became Tetherdown Primary School (this moved from the site in 1958 when it exchanged premises with the girls' grammar school). In the 1950s William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School opened on an adjoining site in Creighton Avenue. With the introduction of comprehensive education in Haringey in 1967, Tollington Grammar School and William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School were merged to form Creighton School. Charles Loades, head of William Grimshaw since 1958, became head, and remained until his retirement in 1974.[1]

In the early 1970s, Creighton School became the centrepiece of a Labour Party education experiment. Situated in the middle class largely white suburb of Muswell Hill it was decided to integrate a large number of Afro-Caribbean and other ethnic minority children into the school from distant parts of the borough in an attempt to maximise education choice and social interaction - a policy based heavily on the then United States system of desegregation busing. In 1975, before this new intake had worked through the school, around one third of the Sixth Form was either a first-generation immigrant, or had a surname of Cypriot or Asian origin.[1] The head who was charged with overseeing this experiment was Molly Hattersley, the wife of Labour Party minister Roy Hattersley.[1] This policy did not result in improvements for students. However education authorities still counted the policy as a success for, while academic achievements had fallen, it could be shown that they had fallen across all student ethnic and social groups - thus creating a fairer school.[citation needed]

As a part of the continuing debate about comprehensive schools, Creighton school became the subject of a series of articles in the Sunday Times and a subsequent book by Hunter Davies, "The Creighton Report",[1] illustrated by an A Level Photography student at the school.

After further reorganization, Creighton School and another comprehensive, Alexandra Park School, were combined under the new name of Fortismere School. It opened in September 1983 and gained Technology College status in 1997; this status has been extended to 2007. The school is now one of the most successful comprehensive schools in North London. Parts of the film Fever Pitch were shot at the school, and in 2006 it was featured in the BBC2 documentary, Don't Mess With Miss Beckles, in which under-achieving pupils were given a chance to reform.

In the summer of 2006, the school's governors made a proposal to change the school's status to that of a foundation school. The governors argue that the increased autonomy from the LEA that foundation status provides would be beneficial to the school,[2] which critics argue that the proposal is an attack on the school's comprehensive nature and would lead to a reduction in provision for pupils with special educational needs.[3] On September 1, Fortismere became a Foundation school, as well as taking on a new joint specialist status in Maths/Computing with Music*

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Hunter Davies The Creighton Report: A Year in the Life of a Comprehensive School, (1976), Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-89412-3.
  2. ^ Fortismere School Governing Body. "Fortismere School – Foundation Status Informal Consultation" (PDF).
  3. ^ Keep Fortismere Comprehensive campaign. Keep Fortismere Comprehensive. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  4. ^ a b c Dafydd Rees & Luke Crampton,Q Encyclopedia of Rock Stars, (1996), Dorling Kindersley, ISBN 0-7513-0393-3

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Schools in Haringey
Primary Schools
Coldfall Primary School • St Mary's Priory RC Infant School • St Francis de Sales RC Infant School • St Aidan's Voluntary Controlled Primary School • St Michael's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School • Rhodes Avenue Primary School • St Mary's Priory RC Junior School • St John Vianney RC Primary School • Rokesly Infant School • Rokesly Junior School • Muswell Hill Primary School
Independent and Public Schools
Public Schools: Highgate School.
Other Independent Schools: None
Maintained Schools, (Secondary)
Alexandra Park School • Fortismere School • Gladesmore Community School • Greig City Academy • Highgate Wood Secondary School • Hornsey Secondary School for Girls • The John Loughborough School • Northumberland Park Community School • Park View Academy • St Thomas More RC School • Woodside High School
Special Schools
Independent: No Independent Special Schools in Haringey
State: Moselle Upper School • William C. Harvey School