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Michael Thomas:  Memories of Chigwell House School

Chigwell House School

Chigwell House School: 5, Highfield Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham   (Closed circa 1974)

I attended Chigwell House School from 1963 to 1969, following both my brothers, Roger & Peter, there. It was a private, fee-paying school and was considered one of the top junior schools in the area. It was a subsidiary of Greenmore College (Edgbaston) and it was housed in an old (?Victorian) house on the Calthorpe estate. However, it seems the school increasingly had financial problems. The building became quite run-down by the start of the 1970s and was demolished soon after the school closed.  Looking at the still empty site, there doesn't seem room for a school building, but the presence of the old playground (used as a car park) is proof of its former usage.

Unfortunately, I do not have any school photographs dating from the period I was there, though I'm sure at least one was taken. If anyone has a school photo from this period, please contact me. Ironically, my brothers have 3 school photos dated 1959, 1960 & 1961, from which I'll be taking the photos of the teachers for use here.

My class and my form teachers:

Below is a listing of the classes I was in, the years and the form teachers:

Some notes about the above table:
According to my earliest school reports (1963), the headmaster was F. Cade as far as I can tell from the signature. I don't remember him, only Mr Hamilton, who appears to have taken over the role at the start of 1964.
In Form 2, I remember being taught by Mrs Barton, but my Autumn term report is signed by Mrs Jacobs & Mrs Hancox, so I can only assume Mrs Barton left suddenly, partway through the term and her workload was taken on by Mrs Jacobs until a replacement (Mrs Hancox) was employed. Mrs Hancox signed both the later reports for that school year.
I think Mrs Evans left the school in 1965 and was replaced by Miss Fear. Mr McKernan joined while I was at the school; he predecessor was, I think, Mr Linnell.

The Teachers:

I don't have any unpleasant memories of any of the teachers. Generally they were fair but firm. However, I think I was quite well-behaved and generally respected adults (brought-up proper, me!). The teachers all seemed quite old, but then, anyone over 15 seems old when your only 6!

Teacher's Name	Photo	Notes
Mrs Barton		I have a fleeting memory of Mrs Barton being very strict, and I wasn't too keen on her, but perhaps she told me off about something which I felt was unnecessary?
Mrs. S. Cohen		"Coco" was a quite formidable Jewish lady, though not tall and tending to plumpness! Stood no nonsense, but was fair and her human side was often on show. I remember in French, explaining the word "Fatigue" being like the English word "fatigue" and asking if we knew what it meant. "If I say I'm fatigued, it doesn't mean I'm fat" she said - implying "I know I'm a bit plump!" You'd know when she was annoyed because she would purse her lips, causing many wrinkles to form around them (used to fascinate me!).
Mrs. M. Evans		I remember Mrs Evans as very kindly and I liked her a lot. Being J1 form teacher, she had to cope with a lot of small children experiencing their first break from their mothers. Some of the boys cried a lot. I never did - school had been explained to me by my Mum. Mrs Evans made it much easier to be away from the comfort of your family. She lived in Harborne - not far from me and I often saw her shopping when I was older, but I never took the chance to speak to her, in case she couldn't remember me. I think she died some years ago.
Mr. H. Hamilton (Headmaster)		"Hammy" Hamilton suffered with Parkinson's disease. He kept discipline in the school. As well as teaching the 4th form Latin and some other subjects, he also took a small group of us on Friday afternoons to groom us to take the King Edward "main" school exam. (Friday was a half-day for everyone else). These lessons were quite enjoyable. I remember Mr Hamilton reading us stories by "Saki" as well as teaching us more advanced maths etc.
Mrs. G. Hancox		I think Mrs Hancox took over from Mrs Barton. I remember liking her a lot more than her predecessor, but don't remember much else about her
Mrs. M. Jacobs		Mrs Jacobs was another strict teacher. I remember her as being quite a sharp person, but I don't recall disliking her particularly, though I remember preferring to be taught by Mrs Hancox
Mr. E. McKernon		Our 4th form teacher - an Irishman whom I remember referring to as Scottish in a school essay. One of my most embarrassing  moments was reading out that essay. Standing in front of the class reading your essay was bad enough without everyone laughing at you. I was never very good at recognising Celtic accents (still can't).
Mr. G. Pye (physical training)		He was a good sort. PT generally meant football in the winter and cricket in the summer. We had to travel to the YMCA sport grounds (by Pebble Mill - I remember seeing the new BBC centre being built at the time). If it was cold or wet, Mr Pye used to ask if we wanted to go the "long way round" to get there. (Of course we did). My overriding memory is of being crammed in the back of the minibus (often sitting on the floor) and we all used to sing "Lily The Pink" which was very popular at the time. On the lines "Brother Tony was known to be boney" we all used to point at Tony Whitehouse. Someone used to get pointed at for "Jennifer Eccles had terrible freckles" but I can't recall who (probably Tim Stafford). A couple of times we went swimming - at Greenmore College. Mr Pye was the one created some of the nicknames like Neil  "Smudger" Smythe and "Speedy Gonzales" for Peter Eckersley.
Mrs. Reece (music)		I still have my Chigwell music book. It is a note book with all the songs we learned written in. I used to enjoy singing and still do. I had a good voice as a boy soprano and could sing reasonably in tune. Mrs Reece would recite the words for us to write down, then teach us the song (playing the piano) bit by bit.
Miss S. M. Richardson		Another "fair but firm" teacher but I don't remember any stories about her. However, I believe she was the most senior teacher at the school, having been there since the later 1940s.

My Fellow Pupils:

A couple of years ago, I bumped into an old school friend who went to both Chigwell House & Five Ways, Peter Eckersley. He was trying to trace all the people in his first year class at Five Ways, but he also sent a list of all the pupils in our form at Chigwell. This, combined with my own memories has been used to form the list below. However, it numbers 24 children and I don't recall the classes being that big (They were usually about 12 or 13, I think). There was some movement between years;  if pupils were bright, they moved up a year. I DO remember Form 4 being quite a big class, however, some of whom stayed on until the following year, probably due to their age?

Link To King Edward's Five Ways Grammar School, 1969-1976