Our History

Hillside School

1939 to 2000 - known as Hillside County Senior Mixed & The Hillside School

Hillside Avenue Boreham Wood

Originally built as a County Council Senior School taking children from the age of eleven to fourteen years so that Furzehill School, which previously took ages four to fourteen, would be for primary children only.  Its name was not taken from the road in which it was situated but was given by Mrs Greenwood and Mrs Purry, two of the governors of Furzehill School, after Hillside School (the merged Barham House/Clock House) in Allum Lane. 

The following members of the staff were transferred from Furzehill School to the new Senior School : Mr P D Gernat (Headmaster), Mr J J O’Keefe, Mr A R Mills, Miss J M Durber and Mrs D E Taylor.

2005 - by Derek Allen

The school had eight classrooms and expected 240 pupils.  It was due to open on Monday 4th September 1939 but the declaration of war with Germany on the 3rd prevented this happening.  An emergency meeting of the Managers was held at Furzehill School on 20th September where it was decided that as there were "1000 troops in Boreham Wood and anti-aircraft guns on the hills it was too dangerous for schools to open until protection was made".  Safety measures had to be put into place before the school could be used and air-raid shelters, sandbags and blackout curtains were installed, although by 10th November there was still no sand for bags.  Consequently, the first children arrived at the school on 20th November 1939 and only attended for part of the day for safety reasons because of the threat of air-raids.  It was the most modern school in the area and took the older children from Boreham Wood as well as those from Elstree, Radlett and Shenley who travelled to it by a special coach. In its first days a piece of plaster fell from the roof of the Assembly Hall and by September 1940 there were 295 pupils. Teachers at the school were Miss Wright - art & PE, Miss Loveley, Miss Durber - music, Ms Taylor, Mr O’Keeke - PE & science, Mr Brewer - history, Mr Hutchins - woodwork, Miss Jeffries - PE & science.

Mr Gernat with pupils during the war

The first headmaster was Mr P D Gernat until 1961, whose initiative led him to ask permission for boys to help establish a plot in the school playing fields for garden vegetables as a contribution to the war effort.  Teachers stayed at the school during the night on firewatching duty.  At one time a bomb hit and destroyed the caretaker’s bungalow. 

Ex pupil, William Rowson, who attended the school during the war remembers that there were three air-raid shelters: one at each end of the front wings and one in the front foyer which at the time was called the ‘crush hall’.  Because of the threat of air-raids each pupil had to take a tin of emergency rations, known as ‘iron rations’, which contained 1 bar of chocolate, 1 packet of biscuits (not cream) and 1 packet of raisins. 

"Pupils were not allowed to leave the school during an air-raid and had to remain there even if the air-raid went past the school finishing time.  If this happened, and it did many times, after a suitable time had elapsed these tins were then distributed to the pupils to stave off their hunger".

The supplies then had to be replenished and stored in a cupboard for future use.

Another pupil Reg Beer attended from September 1939 to Easter 1943. He came to Boreham Wood from London because his father, Sam, worked for the Lifeboat Institution, an essential service which moved to Stirling Way.  He did not recall air-raid shelters but an assembly point alongside the hall.  However he said that pupils had to have a gas mask with them at all times and if they forgot to bring it to school they were sent home to collect it.  He was one of the pupils who attended part-time and worked on the allotments under the instruction of Mr Mills who also formed a ’young farmers club’.  The allotments were situated in front of the school on the left hand side looking towards the entrance.  Vegetables grown were mainly potatoes and cabbage which went to the school kitchens for dinners - these were not available to children who lived less than one and a half miles away. He also recalls that there were a few Spanish children in his and other classes who were refugees from the Spanish Civil War although he did not know how they came to be in this area.

  
Soccer Team 1942                                                                      School Group 1946-7

School groups in the 1950s

From 1950 the school numbers rose from about 400 to 800 and it was named Hillside County Senior Mixed School.  Mr Gernat retired in March 1961.  In 1962 Mr H A Smith was the headteacher. 

Up until 1971 the school had been added to in five stages in order to meet changing needs and the increase in the population of Boreham Wood because of the intensive house building programme in the 1950s. 

Aerial View

In 1974 a rear access path was re-sited as it interfered with Monksmead School access and safety of children whilst playing games and also the use of playing fields.  The education system in Boreham Wood changed from a two-tier to a three-tier system and Hillside became an Upper School called The Hillside School. This resulted in Hillside School’s intake to be for children from the ages of thirteen to sixteen years until mid 1980s when a Sixth Form was introduced to extend the age range to the age of eighteen years. 

Mr K Newson was head retiring in 1987.

The school issued its own magazines : quarterly Generation, in the 1970s and in September 1994 Hillsider was issued as a weekly newsletter. 

There were more extensions during the next twenty years culminating with a new sports hall and music suite which were built in 1997. 

                             

Between 1995 to 2000 staff were: Headteacher & science - Mr Tim Westrip.  Deputy head - Mrs Jenny Francis.  Mr Paul Rayburn, Miss Lindsay Sharpe, Mr Mee, Mrs Sarah Starkey, Mrs Irene Forster, Elaine Jonston - science.  Mr Michael Lamy-Newman, Joan Simpson, Miss Dix, Jane Hill - art.  Mr Jim Callaway, Mr Rob Wilton - CDT.  Mr Gordon Irvine - CDT, electronics, IT. Mr Rob Bellini - IT.   Mrs Fulford nee Sekula, Miss Garner, Mr Alex Dobbin - history.  Mr Chuck Morris, Mrs Patricia Miller, Mrs Couper - business studies.  Miss Chapman, Mr John Negus, Mr Knight - geography.  Mr O’Connor, Mr Steven Barnard, Miss Angela Devine, Miss Pererer, Mr Goddard, Mrs Laura Edgar English.  Roz Wilkinson, Mr Assad Medfai, Grace Pilditch, Mrs Roz Connaughton - french.  Mr Carl Heap - english, media, drama, Mr Allan Stronach - media.  Mr Allan James, Mr Sireling, Mrs Pike, Sue Langley - maths.  Miss Sue Bedford, Mr Michael Hore, Mr Wakeling, Mrs Couper- PE.  Mrs Sandra Woodland - head year 11, Mr Michael Hore, Mr Wakeling - PSD.  Mrs Hedden, Mrs Celia Gordon - textiles & cookery.  Zena Tyres - cookery.  Mrs Stewart - PE & special needs.  Laura Inglis, Shirley Geddes - librarians.  Terry Caudle -  assistant librarian & AV technician.  Miss Macrow, Mr Marcus Vere - music.  Mrs Lesley Ross, Vanda Massotti, Peggy Holloway - special needs..  The head cook was Mrs Olive and the site managers were Mr Ken Martindale and Mr Del Abrahams.  In the office were Mrs Maureen Herlock, Mrs Jill Cummings and Joan Elmer.

In 2000 all Boreham Wood schools were affected by a return to the two-tier system and The Hillside School was used as an upper annexe to the new main school, Hertswood, which had replaced Nicholas Hawksmoor School.  Fortunately the school buildings have continued to be used for educational purposes. In 2006, the Jewish School, Yavneh College, was established on the same site in Hillside Avenue.

2005 - by Derek Allen

John Batt Remembers :
I see you have Mr Winter only teaching Ballroom Dancing...he also taught French and I got a Grade 1 CSE in French because of Sydney Winter's teaching.