Title:
SOUTHCHURCH HALL SCHOOLS
Level: Category
Records of educational institutions, especially schools
Level: Fonds
SOUTHCHURCH HALL SCHOOLS
Admin History:
Following the passing of the 1902 Education Act, Essex County Education Committee took control of secondary education in Southend. One of the Committee's first acts was to build Southchurch Hall School in 1903. The School was separated into boys, girls, junior mixed and infants' departments. In 1914 Southend became a County Borough and control of education in the town passed to the Borough's Education Committee.

Twenty years later the boys and girls departments were renamed Southchurch Hall Schools for Girls and Boys and the under-11s were transferred to Thorpe Junior School and Brewery Road School. During the Second World War the Schools were evacuated to Nottinghamshire, returning to Southend in 1942.

After the war the growth of pupil numbers made in necessary for the girls' school to move to separate premises. It was renamed Dowsett High School for Girls and occupied the former Southend High School for Girls premises in Boston Avenue, Prittlewell. In 1968 Dowsett High School for Girls moved to new premises in Southchurch Boulevard, Southchurch. This site was extended in 1981 when Dowsett High School for Girls and Southchurch Hall High School for Boys amalgamated to form Thorpe Bay High School (later re-named Futures Community College). In 1992 the former Southchurch Hall School premises were used as an adult education centre.