Our History

Summerswood School

1953 to present day

Furzehill Road Boreham Wood

The school opened on 14th May 1952 as a Junior Mixed School.  The architect was Bruce Martin.  It was possibly named after a lane in Ridge.  All the junior children were transferred there from Furzehill School which then became an Infant School.  The Head of Furzehill, Mr Jepps, became the Head at Summerswood and he took with him: Mrs E Rogerson, Mr A Adams, Miss M Sterney, Miss M Watret, Mr D Cooke, Miss E Homes, Mrs J Bainbridge and Mr C J Chapman.  Mr Jepps retired in 1967.

In 1974 all the county schools in Boreham Wood changed to a three-tier system and Summerswood became a First School taking children from the age of four to nine.  In order to accommodate the change of age groups it received ‘a substantial element of improvement’ * with additional accommodation. *Abstract of Minutes, Education Committee, 27 March 1972.

A fire on 15 June 1982 destroyed almost the whole of the school leaving just two classrooms in a recently built block to the front of the school intact.  On the day of the fire there were 197 on the roll.  The children were sent to Hillside School who took two classes, Monksmead School who took four classes and Furzehill School who took a double class.  The following September only two classes were usable and most of the children remained to be distributed.  There were 159 on the roll.  Meals for the children at Summerswood were cooked at Hillside and transported.  The caretaker was seconded to Monksmead.

Herts County Council were reluctant to rebuild the school and there was talk of a merger with Monksmead.  The parents were against this and eventually Summerswood was rebuilt on the same site to the original design and completed in March 1984.  The headteacher from 1968 to 1990 was Mr Guest and then Mrs Rowland.

In February 1985 Cecil Parkinson MP visited and in March the children took part in the BBC Doomsday Project.

In 2000 Herts County decided to change all their schools in Boreham Wood back to a two-tier system and Summerswood became a primary again taking children from four to eleven.  It also had a private nursery run by Sue Waterman which was accommodated in the original block that was untouched by the fire.

The school uniform was a navy sweatshirt with a yellow emblem of a tree encircled by the school name.  Prior to this it was two 'S' printed on the shirt.  Grey trousers or skirts and white tops. 

In 2001 there were 223 on the roll with a further thirty expected in September.  A mobile classroom was erected to take the additional numbers because of the change to Primary status.  The school had an Emotional Behaviour Disability unit which took six children, teacher Mrs Jesson, but children were integrated into the rest of the school.  There was also a separate dining room.  The headteacher was Sarah Thomas Burton and other staff were : Deputy - Susan Coavery, secretary - Mrs Yates, clerical assistant - Mrs Phyllis Morgan, premises manager - Barry Desborough.  Teachers were : Karen Hall, Joanne Folkes, Miss Goold, Helen Mitchinson, Anne Simon, Pearl Parsons, Mrs Chase, Mrs Druce, Mr Fell, Miss Steinberg.  Assistants were : Helen Hutchinson, Linda Minett, Cherie Tarleton.  Meal supervisors were : Mrs Hedges, Mrs Ray, Mrs Kamdar, Mrs Deacon, Mrs Gray.

The Headteacher in 2024 is Miss Sarah Kneller

If anyone from Summerswood reads this - please update us with the last twenty years at your school!