Portslade in the Past: Benfield Primary School, Portslade

Judy Middleton 2001 (revised 2021)

Background

The land on which the school now stands was once given over to allotments. But in September 1945 the allotment holders were given notice to quit. Although it must have been sad for them, it can hardly have come as a surprise since there were already plans for a new school in the 1930s. However, the outbreak of the Second World War put paid to any such schemes. It is ironic to note that work was scheduled to start in September 1939.

The plans for the new school were drawn up in 1938/39, but work did not get under way until the 1940s. It was a difficult site to develop, what with there being a frontage to the busy Old Shoreham Road, besides being hemmed in with housing. The building work aroused considerable local interest because of the giant crane that was brought in to lift materials over the roofs of neighbouring houses.

The school was designed for 360 juniors with 40 pupils in each class. Excluding the purchase of the site, the cost of building the school was placed at around £160 per school place.

The school was a single-storey edifice with classrooms having a south aspect facing the playground. This design meant that the corridor was unusually long at 75 metres, and thus made claim to being the longest school corridor in East Sussex. Benfield School was built to replace the old St Andrew’s School in Wellington Road.

copyright © D. Sharp
A view from Victoria Road of the school's over 75 metres long single-storey edifice beyond a car dealership

Grand Opening

The opening ceremony took place on 13 May 1949, and it must have been considered of some importance because George Tomlinson, Minister of Education, was in attendance. In his speech he said that money for a school was an investment for the future, and that ‘economy at the expense of children could in no circumstances be justified.’

Commander H. S. Egerton, Chairman of East Sussex County Council, stated that Benfield School was the first school to be completed in their area since the historic Education Act of 1944, and the first to be opened since the Second World War.

The First Teachers

When Benfield School opened, there were 354 children on the books with ten teachers and one head. Unfortunately, there was one class containing 43 children, although the recommended number was thirty.

The teachers were as follows:

I. Evans

Selina Belinfante

Mrs Ruby Reilly

Joan Knight

E. G. Elworthy

Nellie Evans

Mrs Brenda Wise

Ruby Clifford

Alice Cuthbert

L. W. Fellingham

Ruby Reilly and Ruby Clifford were still teaching at Benfield in 1960, and the latter was deputy head, while Selina Belinfante remained until the 1970s. However, the longest-serving teacher must be Mr Elworthy who was still teaching in the 1980s. Even after he retired, he liked to keep in touch, and would turn up for special occasions, or to help out with scenery for the school shows.

The origins of this Portslade school’s name ‘Benfield’, can be found just under a mile away in Hangleton, Hove, where once stood the Benfield Hunting Lodge, Benfield Cottages and farm, the only intact building from those days is Benfield Barn.

Headmistress

Miss Dorothy Hunt was the first head of Benfield School. She had been head of St Nicolas School, Portslade, from 1927 to 1939. In her application for the latter post written in April 1927 she wrote ‘I have had experience in teaching every standard in an elementary school. I am used to very large classes, especially in the upper standards. I have taught needlework and cutting out for twelve years and I have done special work in physical training, country dancing and organised games for girls.’

Miss Hunt was also keen on swimming, and she used to run a swimming club for pupils at St Nicolas, taking them to the Medina Baths on Hove sea-front after school hours.

Another link between the two schools was the matter of school dinners. St Nicolas School at that time had no facilities for providing dinners, and thus the selected few would walk down to Benfield in crocodile to eat their dinners in more modern surroundings. This scheme started off in November 1952 with twelve children, which number soon increased to twenty; it continued until 1964.

Headmaster

At the age of just 28, Kenneth Beard was already the headmaster of a London Primary School, and consequently was one of the youngest headmasters in the entire country. He was head of Benfield School from 1967 to 1990. By 1982 he was aged 51. In the same year there were 305 pupils aged from seven to eleven, and the attendance rate was an astonishing 97 per cent. He said ‘We insist on the best standard of everything, from dress to behaviour.’ He also claimed that ‘we don’t have a discipline problem, and I don’t use the cane.’

Wind and Fire

The Great Gale of October 1987 completely flattened the prefab classroom in the playground, and moreover blew in some of the windows of the main building too. A new prefab was installed, and double-glazing replaced the smashed windows.

In May 1991 a fire destroyed the main hall and storeroom. Equipment worth thousands of pounds was destroyed, including computers, books, and musical instruments. Smoke also damaged several classrooms. This meant that the school, with 227 pupils, had to be closed for three days.

Ann Gilham, head teacher, said she thought the hall would be out of action until September, but in fact it was not ready until November 1991. To celebrate the re-opening, and the luxury of some indoor space, Chris Packham, presenter of TV’s Really Wild Show, brought along a tarantula to show the children.

Improvements

Mrs Ann Gilham became head in 1990, she started a new concept known as the Pupils’ Committee. The children decided they wanted to re-design the playground. They suggested the installation of picnic benches, playtime apparatus, and a large pond with safety fencing. Then they set about trying to finance their project. Their first major event was a tree-planting ceremony.

In March 1992 Tim Sainsbury, M.P. visited the school to see the repairs carried out after the fire. The pupils also engaged him in a mock interview.

The initial plan of Benfield School provided lavatories, cloakrooms, and stock cupboards on the north side of the corridor. But over the years the spaces have been appropriated for other uses, and a new cloakroom was added in 1996. The secretary’s office was once the girls’ lavatory, while the special facility room was once the boys’ lavatory. The Music Room was once home to a cloakroom, while the Library replaced another cloakroom with three large, glass ceiling panels kept as a reminder of its former use. In 1995 the stock cupboards were turned into working bays, The Parents’ Room became the Cookery Room but kept the original name-plate on the door for interest. It was opened in the summer of 1997 by Ivor Caplin, M.P. There were of course new lavatories, and a new classroom was added to the west end.

Health Scare

In 1999 there were health concerns because one boy and one girl in year six had been diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis, but thankfully they were said to be doing well in hospital. On 23 April 1999 all 306 Benfield pupils received a preventive jab against the disease.

50^th Anniversary

The 50^th anniversary of the school’s opening was celebrated in 1999. As part of the celebrations in May of that year, the children lined up in the playground to form a giant ‘50’ that was then photographed from the air by a cameraman in a helicopter. Subsequently, the helicopter landed in the playground, which caused some excitement.

In August 2000 there were plans to demolish the two temporary classrooms, and replace them with two single-storey extensions.

Recent Times

In May 2010 there was a surge of demand for places in primary schools in Brighton and Hove. Indeed, compared with 2009, and the council received 128 more applications. This lead to some difficulty in finding places for all the children who needed them. Parents living in the Benfield catchment area were disgruntled if their children were allocated to a Hove school, while parents living in Hove did not relish having to trek to Benfield. There were some spare places in east Brighton, but of course that suited neither camp.

In 2013 the Ofsted report concluded their overall assessment with the remark that the school ‘required improvement’. However, those in charge were praised – ‘Strong leadership by the executive head teacher and head of school is ensuring that the school is improving rapidly.’

Benfield School was on the upward trend, and by 2017 it had become a National Teaching School with congratulations on their achievement from Brighton & Hove City Council. The SATs figures were also very good with Benfield rated in the top 25 per cent for pupil progress in the entire country.

However, by 2017 there had been a drop in applications for primary school places and the council had drawn up a list of five schools in Brighton and Hove where entry might be reduced to one form, instead of two, one of the schools targeted being Benfield. There was a public consultation, and there was considerable opposition to the prospect of Benfield being reduced to a one-form entry school. In fact a petition against such a move was signed by 1,500 people. The council was also reminded that Benfield had received its National Teaching School status on the basis of a two-class entry.

Heads

1949 – Miss Dorothy Hunt

c.1952 – John Whiting

1967 – Kenneth Beard

1990 – Mrs Ann Gilham

Statistics

1949 – 354 pupils, ten teachers

1957-58 – 418 pupils

1959-60 – 354 pupils (3 classes had 43 children each) nine teachers

1966-68 – 401 pupils

1968-69 – 378 pupils

1970 – 366 pupils, 12 teachers

1976 – 407 pupils

1977 – 371 pupils

1978 – 396 pupils

1980 – 372 pupils (largest class had 37 pupils) 13 teachers

1986 – 136 pupils

1987 – 140 pupils

1988 – 171 pupils

1997 – 295 pupils, 12 full-time teachers, 4 full-time classroom assistants, 3 part-time auxiliaries (largest class had 28 pupils)

1999 – 306 pupils

2014 – 341 pupils

See also Benfield Hunting Lodge (Hangleton) and Benfield Valley (Hangleton)

Sources

Argus (10/5/10 / 16/11/17)

Brighton & Hove Independent 19/9/15)

05 April 2021

Benfield Primary School, Portslade