Our History

Cowley Hill School

Opens in 1949 & becomes Cowley Hill Primary School in 2000

Winstre Road, Boreham Wood

The school opened in 1949 as a Junior Mixed County School named Cowley Hill Junior School.  It was the first of the post-war schools in Boreham Wood.  Its first headmaster was Mr Smith followed by Mr Eric Kidd as its first Head Teacher while his wife was secretary.  Originally there were eight classrooms, an assembly hall, which boasted the only stage in schools of that status in the town, and a dining room.  In 1955 it opened a new department for infants because of the rise in population brought about by the house building programme of the London County Council.  This department became a separate building and was named Woodlands School.

1956

Playground

Sandpit                 

Teachers in the early days

Mrs J Perrott was the next head followed by Ms Hilary Bell in 1993 and then Mrs Linda Williams. 

The original badge was a shield which contained the initials CHS but in 1994 teacher Mrs Maggie Cheney designed a new logo of a silhouetted boy and girl touching hands with outstretched arms.  In this year extensions were built to accommodate the predicted bulge in admissions to take up to sixty extra children.  The actual number was around forty five.

In line with the education programme in Boreham Wood to change to a three-tier system, the school changed status in 1974 to a First School when two rooms were taken for nursery places.  In 1994 the school received extensions to take additional nursery children.

In 1998-9 there were 215 children in the main school and sixty-three in the nursery who attended half time, i.e. morning or afternoon.  The education system reverted to a two-tier in 2000 and the school was renamed Cowley Hill Primary School.  

In 2001 there were 315 children on the roll, 269 in the main school and forty-six in the nursery.  All the nursery children and those up to the age of seven were entitled to free milk because of political policies.  The school had ten classrooms, a double nursery and a speech and language base for ten children which was used for any Hertfordshire child with language problems. The school house teams were named after local parks: Meadow, Aberford, Maxwell and Parkfield.

Rebuilt in 2015, the school is now a two form entry school with Nursery, Reception and children from year One to Six. (Primary, Infant and Nursery).

Jon Hood, Head Master in 2006 :
"I am delighted to welcome you to what is almost a new Cowley Hill School. In the last two years Cowley Hill has undergone a considerable transformation the culmination of which is our current pristine building which is located on an extensive and most attractive site. We are proud of our thriving, popular and successful school".

YOUR MEMORIES

Barbara Leopold Remembers :
Just to add to your piece on the earlier days of Cowley Hill School, I attended there from January 1962 until July 1968, following in the footsteps of my three elder brothers. The houses then were named after famous Victorians and each of the three streamed classes in each year was a mixture of :
Red - Shaftesbury
Blue - Cavell
Yellow - Nightingale
Green- Livingstone
The Headteacher was Mr Kidd and my teachers during that time were Miss Jean Ruddock, Mr Bill Hodgson, Mr Richman and Mr Jones. In 1966 we put on a pageant to celebrate 900 years since the Norman invasion of 1066, with each 100 year period being commemorated in some way. I recall one being the Great Fire of London and another being the Black Death!

John Batt Remembers :
The Head cleaner/Caretaker for Cowley Hill School in the 60s was my Grandmother, Mrs Adeline Cairns, then when she retired in early 70s her son my Uncle, Mr Thomas Cairns, took over as Caretaker from early 1970s and lived in a caravan on the School grounds. When I was at Cowley Hill from 1960 to 64 my favourite teacher was Ms Cranston.

Michael Evans Remembers :
I was interested to see the publication of Borehamwood schools, particularly Cowley Hill. I was deputy head there - I followed John Richman. Eric Kidd was the Head and his wife Pat was secretary. I enjoyed my time there and only moved when the school was reorganised as a First School. In those days it was not considered to be appropriate for a man to be teaching very young children. I was redeployed to Furzehill School, where I stayed for a term before I was appointed head of a school in Cambridgeshire. Pat retired and Eric went on to run a teachers' centre in the north of the county. Pat later died from lung cancer and Eric moved to Perth in Western Australia to be near family members who had already moved there. I subsequently tracked him down and we corresponded for a number of yours until he died. He was quite a character as many will remember.

It must be remembered that I was there in the 1970s, when education was a lot more laid back than it is now. For instance, Bill Hodgeson, who you mention, had a greyhound that he would bring to school each day in the back of his car. He would then exercise it on the school playing field during the lunch break.

I remember taking a group of Year 6 children on a trip to the Isle of Wight.  There was just me and a young lady teacher in charge of all the children, which would be completely unheard of these days. One activity was for a navy tender to take us on a trip round the dockyard - in an open boat, with no suggestion of life jackets. These were the days before risk assessments, but we all returned safe and sound from our week of adventure.

I also remember as part of our science we made ginger beer to show how yeast worked. We had bottles of it fermenting on the windowsill and I would sell it to the children at a penny a class to pay for fresh ingredients. This all had to stop when someone pointed out that fermented ginger beer was actually alcoholic. That put a stop to our nice quiet afternoons.

Yes, it was a different world in those days.