Fryerns Comprehensive School

Fryerns School

Motto	Latin: Age Quod Agis ("If you do something, do it well.")Motto on Fryerns pulpit in hall "Labor omnia vincit"
Established	1956
Closed	1999
Type	Secondary school
Headteacher	Mr Cyril Baggs, Mr Timothy Slater, Mr Stuart Hayes, Mr D.A. Anderson
Location	Craylands Basildon Essex SS14 3RN England Coordinates: 51°34′37″N 0°29′13″E / 51.577°N 0.487°E / 51.577; 0.487
Local authority	Essex
DfE URN	115224 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Colours	Blue/yellow
Publication	Fryern' Easy
Former name	Fryerns Grammar and Technical School, Craylands County Secondary
Fate	Closed in 1999
Website	Fryerns Community School L.M.

Craylands School, built in 1935. Taken in 2007 by Paul Francis.

Fryerns School. 2007 by Paul Francis.

Badge of Fryerns School

Fryerns Comprehensive School /friːəns/, also known as Fryerns Community School, was a mixed intake secondary school in Basildon, Essex that opened in 1956. The school was situated around one mile directly east of Basildon town centre. It was closed in 1999 due to falling pupil numbers. The site is now being redeveloped into two housing estates.

History

Fryerns School was the first new secondary school to be opened in Basildon New Town.^[1] Its name came from the nearby Fryerns Farm which also provided the name for the local area.

Fryerns was initially made up of two schools, a Grammar school and a Technical school. In August 1968 they merged with Craylands County Secondary school, which had opened on the same site in 1935, to create Fryerns Comprehensive. The influx of families into the are meant that another secondary school, Barstable, was placed across the road. In 1994 the school changed its name once again to Fryerns Community School.

Essex County Council Education department closed Fryerns in 1999 due to falling pupil numbers and a serious funding issue.^[2][3] Basildon's demographics had changed markedly over the previous four decades. A rapidly ageing population meant that there were too many schools in the district for the number of pupils and Fryerns had to close. Fryerns, had been threatened with closure in 1990-1991 but a strong defence of the school was launched in parliament by the then Basildon Conservative MP David Amess.^[4] In the speech he stated that no school would close in Basildon while he was its member of parliament. This turned out to be the case as in 1997 he did not contest the Basildon seat as the New Labour candidate Angela Smith MP was elected. Less than two years later the school had closed.

After closing, the newer school buildings to the south of the site were taken over by Essex Social Services and the playing fields next to it were used for a new housing estate. The school buildings and fields of the old Craylands school were left derelict. Eventually the buildings were demolished and work was started on another new estate.^[5]

School traditions and achievements

• Perridge Awards – These were medals awarded for consistent effort, progress and conduct. They were awarded in three categories, bronze, silver and gold.

• The Cake Competition – An annual five-a-side football knockout competition. If a class played a team from the year above they would get a two goal head start. So if a year 11 team played a year 7 team the match would start at 10 – 0. The prize was a large cake produced by the Home Economics department.

• A skiing trip to Villach, Austria was organised annually for pupils in years 8 and 9.

• In 1987 the sculptor Sokari Douglas Camp was artist-in-residence at the school. Her piece “mother and child” was on display in the entrance hall.^[6]

Notable former pupils ("Fryernists")

• Graham Bonney - singer (chart hit with "Super Girl" in 1966)^[7]

• Nicholas Farrell - actor

• Aden Hynes - sculptor^[8]

• Jillean Porter, former England Netball Captain and winner of 100 international caps.^[9]

• Jon Robson - golfer^[10]

Badge

The school's badge is a stag lying in a laurel wreath. This denotes peace, harmony and triumph.^[11]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fryerns Comprehensive School.

External references

Department of Education report showing the school's performance from 1998. Retrieved 18/01/13.

"Size matters: does school choice lead to 'spirals of decline'?" 07/09/2000. By Stephen Gorard, Chris Taylor, and John Fitz. An academic paper discussing schools that closed due to the effects of government imposed league tables. Fryerns is used as an example. Retrieved 18/01/13.