CHARLTON SCHOOLS

This section contains school log books and diaries for Lombard Wall School, Wood Street School and Charlton Central Secondary School for Boys

The records are arranged under one series:

Administration LMA/4442/04/01

THESE RECORDS ARE OPEN TO PUBLIC INSPECTION, ALTHOUGH RECORDS CONTAINING PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE SUBJECT TO CLOSURE PERIODS

Duplicate copies were not considered worthy of long term preservation and have been returned to the depositor

A forerunner of the Charlton Schools was Lombard Wall School, Woolwich Road, which was created by the London School Board in 1884 for 770 pupils and was built on former marsh land. In 1894, plans were made to increase the size of the school for another 336 pupils and on the abolition of the Board in 1904, the school became a mixed senior and junior Elementary with an Infants Department.

In 1939 the school was closed on the outbreak of the Second World War and an emergency school was opened for non-evacuated pupils. After the war the school premises were used for secondary education under the changed name of the Charlton Secondary School for Boys (later Charlton School). In 1954, Maryon Park School was reorganised and joined Wood Street School, Woolwich, from which the Boys School became part of the Charlton Secondary School for Boys. In 1960 school premises were modernised and Lombard Wall School became an annexe of the Lower School and Maryon Park School became the Upper School of the Charlton Schools, solely for the education of boys from the ages of 11 to 16 and above.

The Charlton Central Schools for Boys and Girls were built and opened in 1911 at Sherington Road on 'Eastcombe House' estate land bought by the London County Council in 1903. 'Central Schools' were a category of school which provided up to the age of 16 an enhanced syllabus including a foreign language and laboratory work in Science. Both Central Schools were evacuated to Tonbridge, Kent during the Second World War and following the introduction of the Education Act 1944, the Central Schools were absorbed into the local stock of Secondary Schools. The Charlton Secondary School for Boys was resited at Lombard Wall School and Charlton Secondary School for Girls took over the Central Schools premises.

In 1975 plans were announced of a merger of the Charlton Schools with the Roan Grammar Schools and in 1976 the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) approved the amalgamation to form a Comprehensive School which would extend the options and curriculum available to pupils. In 1977 work began on the new school site at Westcombe Park Road for a new mixed voluntary controlled school for 1080 boys and girls. Two years later Charlton School Lower (Lombard Wall) transferred to the new school and in 1981 boys from Maryon Park School (Upper) joined the new John Roan School.