inner–london schools 1918–44 a thematic study - English Heritage

grants in the form of building subsidies. These were to provide 50-75% of the cost oferecting new senior non-provided schools made necessary by the reorganisation ofthe elementary system and the raising of the leaving age. The grants, limited to theyears 1936-39, still depended on the support of the local authorities and requiredthe denominations to give up their right to appoint teachers. 24 Within the three yearsspecified, 519 proposals were submitted, 289 by the Catholic authorities and 230 by theAnglicans. 25 Due to the outbreak of war, most of these never materialised and many,particularly Catholic, elementary schools were only reorganised after 1945. 26The Education Act of 1944, in trying to resolve the problems of the denominationalschools rather than abolishing them, established two new types of denominationalschools. These combined varying degrees of independence with state support: The firstwas fully denominational or ‘aided’ schools, where the church body controlled teacherappointments and paid for equipment and running costs; these were eligible for grantscovering 50% (later 75%) of building costs. The second category comprised partiallydenominational or ‘controlled’ schools which had been surrendered to the local authoritybut maintained denominational religious instruction. 27Inter-war Denominational Schools in LondonWhile Anglican and Catholic schools formed the majority of denominational schools inEngland and Wales, inter-war building projects in London were predominantly Catholicschools, rather than Church of England, Nonconformist and Jewish schools.Due to the ‘shifting pattern of London Jewish migration’, long-established Jewish schoolswere underpopulated by 1939, and, it would appear, only one purpose-built school,Bayswater Jewish School (1928-30, L B Kensington and Chelsea) was erected in Londonduring the inter-war years, after the school moved to a new site. 28 Likewise, a singleNonconformist school was built (Mount Zion Baptist School, L B Islington; 1929-30). 29The Church of England built few schools and, on a national level, between 1902 and 1938closed or surrendered to the state each year about 100 schools (both elementary andsecondary). 30 In inner London, they increasingly retreated from the elementary sector:according to Board of Education lists of elementary schools (the so-called List 21), nonew Church of England elementary schools were opened in London between 1918 and1944, while two were rebuilt, twelve closed and one transferred to the local authority.For the Catholic schools, this relationship was almost the inverse: with ten newly-openedschools (albeit not all purpose- or newly-built), three rebuilt and only two closed. 31 Theelementary sector seems to have been the main focus for Catholic education provision,as no new secondary schools were built and only a few extended or altered during thestudy period.Instead of providing new schools, the Church of England authorities focused on extendingand updating existing schools, as well as moving existing schools away from overcrowdedand unsuitable city centre premises. The latter was achieved in the case of threeendowed Church of England foundations in partnership with the LCC, by a variety ofmeans. In addition to building grants, these included the provision of an LCC-built school© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0966