Judy Middleton 2003 (revised 2022)
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| copyright © D. Sharp The former Portslade County Secondary Boys’ School. |
School Motto – FIDELIS (Faithful or Loyal)
Origins
St Nicolas School, Portslade, catered for both
boys and girls but they were taught separately. In 1929 there was a
major re-organisation of schools in Portslade and the senior school’s
catchment area was extended to take boys from St Nicolas and St Andrew’s School, Portslade.
The parish of Portslade had found it increasingly
difficult to find the money to provide education for all age groups
and an appeal to raise much-needed funds received a poor response. It
was disappointing when large concerns failed to respond in an
appropriate manner. For example, Revd Donald Campbell, who became
vicar in 1919, received a dusty answer from London County Council who
had the grace to admit that boarding their boys in the parish led to
extra expense for ratepayers and managers; the Gas Company stumped up
the sum of £500 while Ronuk thought state-run schools were better
and only donated ten guineas. The largest contribution came from
other churches and the Chichester Diocesan Fund. Although the church
schools were saved for a time, the writing was on the wall.
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| copyright © G. Osborne With thanks to Mr G. Osborne for granting permission for the reproduction of the above photograph from his private collection. St Nicolas Boys School in Locks Hill in the 1920s |
In 1936 Windlesham House School, a boys’ prep
school, moved from their premises in the High Street Portslade to Washington in West
Sussex. St Nicolas School managers had first option on the site but
not the necessary funds and so it was East Sussex County Council that
purchased the estate. At first, Portslade Infants’ School occupied
the Windlesham School premises until their brand new school at
Southern Cross was ready for them. This happened in 1938 and in April
of that year, St Nicolas School managers wanted an assurance that
something would be done for the senior boys without delay. But they
could not move in straight away because work was going on at the
Windlesham site that included, unfortunately, the demolition of the
fine Georgian Portslade House. Meanwhile, the senior boys moved to quarters
in the old Infants’ School on the west side of Locks Hill.
New Site and New Names
It was in 1940 that the senior boys moved into the
classrooms once occupied by Windlesham House boys. Mr J.W. Burn,
their old headmaster, moved with them and it was now called the
Senior Council School, Mile Oak. The St Nicolas School managers had
relinquished control, although they continued with St Nicolas School,
now a mixed junior school. But the new name of the boys’ school did
not last long because in 1949 the establishment became Portslade
Secondary Modern School and Mr A.R. Furner was the new headmaster,
while by the 1960s it was known as Portslade County Secondary Boys’
School.
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| copyright © Brighton & Hove City Libraries A class of senior boys outside the former Windlesham School in around 1940 |
East Sussex County Council had landed a bargain in
the purchase of the Windlesham House estate. The school buildings
only cost around £4,000 to adapt while the house and 1½ acres had
cost £3,250 with an additional piece of land costing £1,250. The
grand total therefore came to £8, 500. Compare this with the cost of
Portslade Girls’ School constructed on farmland at Chalky Road, Mile Oak and
ready for occupation by 1940. The land had cost £4,800 and the new
buildings cost £19,800.
Second World War
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| copyright © J.Middleton The 14th Battalion (Hove) Sussex Home Guard 19th Platoon were photographed in 1943 in the playground of Senior Council School, Mile Oak. In 1949 the school was renamed Portslade Secondary Modern School. |
There were no adequate kitchen facilities in the
new school and so those boys entitled to free dinners (usually
because of a father serving in the armed forces) had to traipse down
to Ronuk Hall (later Portslade Town Hall) to have their meal.
In April 1940 air-raid shelters were built
underneath the playground, where once Portslade House stood, and
during the succeeding twenty months they were in constant use.
In April 1941 some 36 boys were evacuated to safer
surroundings in Yorkshire.
On 9/10 August 1942 a stick of incendiary bombs
fell near the school – one fell through the roof of a classroom and
another hit the caretaker’s house.
In 1949 there were 237 boys on the roll and the
first educational trip took place. Over half of the boys and all the
staff visited Windsor and Runnymede.
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| copyright © G. Osborne With thanks to Mr G. Osborne for granting permission for the reproduction of the above photograph from his private collection. The Girls School at Mile Oak behind the bungalows in Valley Road in the 1950s The Girls School was just over a mile walk from the Boy's School, the white unheated nissen hut in the top corner of the playing field was used as a changing room, The football pitch which was on a steep slope was used by the boys of the Secondary School for sport's lessons and inter-house football matches. |
In 1963 a playing field for the boys was
constructed behind the bungalows in Valley Road. The playing field
was 20-ft above the dwellings and East Sussex County Council came in
for criticism when in November 1963 torrential rain caused water to
cascade down the sides of the field and into the gardens of the
bungalows.
The 1960s
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| A drawing of the 1960s school badge and motto, FIDELIS (Faithful or Loyal) The castle and coloured quadrants signify that the school was divided into four 'Houses’ each named after a Sussex castle, Arundel (green), Bramber (red), Lewes (blue) and Pevensey (yellow). |
By 1956 Mr A.J.W. Beal was headmaster; William
Beal was a keen breeder of budgerigars and in the early 1960s there
was a small aviary built on the grass of the top playground by the
west wall. But Mr Beal was not content with the small structure and
planned something on a grander scale. Under his direction, a new,
walk-in aviary was constructed on top of the air-raid shelters. Boys
involved in the project worked in their lunch break, making the basic
structure by cutting up old, wooden goal posts. Boys who shared Mr
Beal’s enthusiasm for budgies joined the budgie club to help look
after them.
One master, officially the woodwork teacher, had
been landed with the task of teaching religious knowledge. He freely
admitted to the boys that he knew nothing about religion but he liked
books and telling stories. The first novel the boys studied was a
western entitled Shane published in 1949 by Jack Schaefar,
which was made into a famous film in 1953 with Alan Ladd taking the
starring role.
Mr W.R. Travers, the metalwork teacher, took a great
interest in mechanical things and quite often there would be the
unnerving sight of boys zooming around the playground on their
Cycle-master bikes that contained a 2-stroke engine in the back
wheel. Boys learned about engines and how to maintain them.
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| copyright © D.Lickorish Class 1A in 1962 with Form Tutor Mr Bennett. |
The school hosted extra classes and clubs for
various hobbies in the evenings. For example, boys could polish up
their English, a chess club, swap stamps at the stamp club, or learn woodworking
skills. Mr Travers was keen on instructing boys on
dinghy sailing. Lessons for the latter took place from Shoreham Harbour.
The Sailing Club and an Unfortunate Incident
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| copyright © D. Sharp This 1960s tie signifies that you were a pupil in the 3rd-5th years of the school. The 1st-2nd year's tie was similar but without the grey banding. It was compulsory for 1st-2nd years boys to wear school caps. |
Membership of the school’s Sailing Club was open
to 4th-year and 5th-year boys, and was run under the auspices of Mr
Travers (metalwork teacher) and Mr Brown (woodwork teacher). Sailing
only took place during the spring and summer months, and in the
winter the sailing dinghy remained on school premises, stored away in
the old air-raid shelter. During the winter, maintenance on the
dinghy was undertaken, both essential work and, by all accounts, a
unique embellishment by way of paint. This resulted in the craft,
built of wood and plywood, being painted white on the lower part of
the hull, and black on the top third with a thin, red stripe on a
white background, which were also the school colours; she looked very
smart. The foredeck and gunnels were varnished; the boys helped with
all this but the masters were responsible for the more tricky parts.
Before any boy was allowed to set sail, there was
a thorough drilling in safety measures such as how to right a dinghy
should she capsize, and how to react around other sailing craft, as
well as the necessity of always wearing a life-jacket. There was
instruction in rigging the boat including the art of hoisting the jib
and mainsail, and the boys learned about the oars, rowlocks, bailer,
the buoyancy bags tied in on either side just below the gunnels, and
that steering was achieved with a conventional tiller and rudder.
In other words, the boys were well prepared for
their adventures on the sea. The boys used to go down to Shoreham
beach on a Saturday morning, and Mr Travers would arrive with the
precious dinghy on a trailer. The trailer was unhitched and the
dinghy taken to the water. Then the boys would take it in turns for
two of them to go sailing together.
On 29 May 1965 Patrick Le Pen and David Sharp set
off in the dinghy, after Mr Travers had checked the weather
conditions. The tide was going out, and there was steady breeze
blowing, so they were told to sail close to the shore. The boys found
conditions a bit windy, but nothing to worry about. Then the dinghy
capsized; the boys climbed onto the centre board, and using their
weight, pulled her upright. Unfortunately, the dinghy was rather full
of water caused by the waves washing over the gunnels, and the extra
weight meant she settled low in the water. It was quite impossible to
get rid of the water with such a small bailer, and a sudden gust blew
her over again. They managed to right her, and take down the sail;
then they decided they had better row for the shore. However, that
plan was scuppered because one rowlock was missing and a buoyancy bag
and the bailer had drifted away. Although Patrick retrieved the two
latter items, there was nothing more to do other than use the oars as
paddles, but it was not enough to make realistic headway towards the
shore. The boys discussed the matter – without any panic, it must
be emphasized – and it was decided that Patrick would swim to the
shore and see if he could borrow a boat to tow the dinghy back.
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| copyright © D. Sharp 1965 'Bramber House' Prefect's Badge |
Patrick reached the shore and was negotiating with
a man about borrowing a boat when he saw the lifeboat putting out. He
was near enough to see David wave a paddle at the lifeboat, and see
him being taken safely aboard. The coxswain and his mate tied a line
to the dinghy but it was too heavy to tow. They then went alongside,
and tried again but without success. Patrick later heard that the
coxswain had removed the buoyancy hatch, but whatever happened out
there, the dinghy languished just below the water line and gradually
drifted away. The rest of the boys and Mr Travers then walked along
the beach to meet David and the lifeboat crew. There was no drama, no
ambulance, no flashing lights. All the same, the coxswain spoke
rather gruffly to Mr Travers.
When the Press
heard about the incident, they had a field day with the Sunday
Express printing
a banner headline Teacher
Let Boys Sail in Risky Conditions says Rescuer. Worthing
fisherman Les Fuller, coxswain of the rubber lifeboat, and Philip
Davey, the mate, were the men who rushed to the rescue. Mr Fuller
reported that David was so wet and chilled that they had to rub his
limbs because he had cramp. It was also claimed that the dinghy was
drifting away fast and was already a quarter of a mile from the
shore. Mr Fuller told the reporter ‘No yachtsman with any sense
would have gone out in those conditions.’ In fact, when Mr Travers
and the boys first arrived at the shore, the weather was clear, the
sea relatively calm, and there were other boats on the water. There
was a red flag flying at Worthing but they could not see it from Shoreham. After
the incident, a coastguard measured the offshore wind strength as up
to Force 6, while Mr Fuller claimed it was more like Force 7 (a gale
being measured as Force 8). However, wind strength and currents can
change quickly.
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| copyright © P. Le Pen 1965 'Arundel House' Prefect's Badge |
Some of the newspapers were inaccurate; for
example, there was a claim that one boy was not wearing a
life-jacket. In addition, the two boys were not novices, and had been
sailing at least fifteen times on previous occasions besides both
being strong swimmers.
The Water Safety Committee of Worthing compiled a
scathing report and presented it to East Sussex Education Authority.
The school’s headmaster, Mr A. J. W. Beal, was very annoyed that
the document had been prepared without consulting him first. He had
of course conducted his own investigation and so had all the facts to
hand. He also asserted robustly that ‘one cannot and would not wish
to remove all risks from a boy’s life’. Fortunately, the
Education Committee took a more level-headed attitude towards the
incident and stated the present safety precautions were adequate, and
there was no reason to make changes. As for the two boys involved,
they had, and still have, a very high regard for both Mr Travers and
Mr Beal.
An upshot of the incident was that the insurance
money paid for two new dinghies, but sailing activities were confined
to the Kingston Buci area of Shoreham Harbour.
(This chapter is based on the memories of Patrick
Le Pen and David Sharp, and newspaper reports)
School Outings in the 1960s
The First Years went on a day’s coach trip to each of the School's House's Sussex castle:- Arundel, Bramber, Lewes and Pevensey.
The Second Years visited on a coach daytrip in conjunction with
the history syllabus :- Runnymede (signing of Magna Carta) Windsor Castle
(The Normans) and Hampton Court (The Tudors)
The Third Years made an annual day-trip to Boulogne sur Mer with
the French teacher.
The Fourth Years, in preparation to leaving school for employment,
had a daytrip around various factories e.g. Phoenix Iron Foundary at
Lewes, CVA Machine Tools in Brighton and a Gate manufacturers in
Newhaven.
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| copyright © G. Osborne With thanks to Mr G. Osborne for granting permission for the reproduction of the above photograph from his private collection. During the 1960s the small swimming pool of the Mile Oak Approved School was used to teach pupils of Portslade Secondary Modern to swim, as the swimming pool was very small, swimming up to 3rd Class Certificate standard could only be taught, to progress to 2nd & 1st Class Certificates meant a trip to the King Alfred in Hove. The football pitch in this photograph was used for School Team matches against other schools as it was a higher quality to the one at the Mile Oak Girls School. The Approved School was also used as the start and finish for the Portslade Boy's School's Annual cross country race which was a circuit across the Downs to Mile Oak around Southwick Hill and back to the Approved School, it was compulsory for all pupils to take part. |
Fido
Every boy knew that ‘Fido’ was the nickname
given to the plimsoll used to administer corporal punishment. At
least it was better than the cane still wielded at many other boys’
school at the time. One example of how Fido was employed, was when
boys became rowdy if the master left the classroom. When the master
returned he would ask for the culprits to step forward. Of course,
the entire class remained seated, which meant the application of Fido
to every boy’s backside. One master had the curious habit of
writing ‘Fido’ in reverse on the sole of the plimsoll in order to
leave a ‘branding’ mark on the back of their school trousers.
Comprehensive
The boys’ school was of short duration because
in 1971 there was the first intake of girls in preparation for the
creation of Portslade Community College, a mixed comprehensive
school, in 1972. Later the buildings became the college’s Sixth
Form site and by 2013 King’s School was in residence and in 2018
are still there, waiting for work to start on building a new school
at Hangleton.
In the Argus (22 July 2019) there was a fascinating article about a school mural that had suddenly come to light. Linda O’Sullivan, aged 50, lead teacher of art at King’s, made the discovery when she took down a board in the art classroom. There on the wall behind was a mural showing the celebrations in Trafalgar Square that took place on 2 June 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. The painting must have been a been an astonishing sight in its heyday but it is now somewhat faded and eroded around the edges. Even so, Linda said that the age-group of the children she taught – aged 11 to 16 – found it a fascinating piece of history.
King’s closed its doors at Portslade in July 2019, and removal vans
were seen at the site. At present, it seems highly likely that
Brighton & Hove City Council might utilise the premises as
offices. The question of the place providing much needed housing
seems improbable because it is such an awkward and dangerous site as
regards access for vehicles
School Mural Riddle
In the Argus (22 July 2019) there was a fascinating article about a school mural that had suddenly come to light. Linda O’Sullivan, aged 50, lead teacher of art at King’s, made the discovery when she took down a board in the art classroom. There on the wall behind was a mural showing the celebrations in Trafalgar Square that took place on 2 June 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. The painting must have been a been an astonishing sight in its heyday but it is now somewhat faded and eroded around the edges. Even so, Linda said that the age-group of the children she taught – aged 11 to 16 – found it a fascinating piece of history.
Linda
contacted Sharon Durham, who was head of sixth form art at Portslade
Aldridge Community Academy, and she remembered that a similar story
had been published in the Argus
around
fifteen years ago. The fact that everybody wants to know is – who
painted the mural?
It
is interesting to note that there were some ancient Egyptian-style
murals on the wall of the long corridor leading to the art and
science
rooms. Mr V Wills a pupil from that time and a
classmate
of
a ‘Robert Parsons’, remembers that Robert was responsible for the
painting of the Egyptian-style murals. Robert
did not paint the coronation mural, as
Robert would have been only 9 years old in 1953 and a pupil of a Portslade junior school.
Paul
Harden who attended the school from 1955 to 1959 told the Argus
(9
August 2019) that the art teacher at that time was a Mr Faulkner and said the Egyptian-style
murals were painted by a Mr Parsons.
In July 2022 a different sign appeared on the left side of the entrance proclaiming the name of the new establishment – Portslade Hub. It was a pleasant surprise that at least the name of the village was acknowledged. In a way it is reminiscent of the creation of the Mile Oak Approved School, which was a joint venture between London County Council and Brighton Council. Portslade Hub is a three-way undertaking awarded through Orbis between Brighton & Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council, and Surrey County Council at a cost of £3.7 million.
Portslade Hub
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| copyright © D. Sharp |
In July 2022 a different sign appeared on the left side of the entrance proclaiming the name of the new establishment – Portslade Hub. It was a pleasant surprise that at least the name of the village was acknowledged. In a way it is reminiscent of the creation of the Mile Oak Approved School, which was a joint venture between London County Council and Brighton Council. Portslade Hub is a three-way undertaking awarded through Orbis between Brighton & Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council, and Surrey County Council at a cost of £3.7 million.
The contract for the refurbishment went to Willmott Dixon Interiors. It meant implementing a complete strip out, and only doing structural interventions as necessary. Costs were kept down by keeping the configuration of the original building.
Portslade Hub accommodates people from the council’s children’s service team with 23,336 sq-ft of office space. The staff will certainly enjoy a pleasant environment, with parking on site and picnic benches and tables in the adjoining garden. It is a win-win situation because the Hub releases land in Moulscoomb, which can now be put to good use and allow over 200 new council houses to be built there instead, replacing offices that were under-used.
Naturally, the building work at Portslade Hub caused some inconvenience to local residents, especially when the stretch of Mile Oak Road nearby was closed to through traffic, and Mile Oak Gardens became something of a rat run. The entrance to the Hub is a very sensitive area, where High Street and the two parts of Mile Oak Road meet. Visibility is not good due to the narrow road and flint walls, plus the number 1A bus going past both ways. Therefore there were dedicated people on site to oversee the inevitable delivery lorries. But it has all been for a good cause.
Sources
Evening Argus 28 June 1965 / 1 July 1965
Shoreham Herald 1 July 1965
Sunday Express 27 June 1965
Middleton J. Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Recollections of Patrick Le Pen, Derek Lickorish and Dave Sharp
Thanks are due to Mr G. Osborne for allowing me to reproduce three of his wonderful photographs
Thanks are due to Mr G. Osborne for allowing me to reproduce three of his wonderful photographs
Copyright © J.Middleton 2018
page layout by D.Sharp