OFFICIAL OPENING OF LEON SCHOOL 10th March 1971

 

My dear friend Daphne Capp has given me a copy of the programme for the opening of Leon School on WEDNRESDAY 10th MARCH 1971. I am here reproducing it below. (Please forgive Google Blogger which is useless at formatting text !)

It was in 1991 that I ran the project IN SEARCH OF THE LEONS and published a small book outlining all the Leonite students did. Sir John Leon and Headmaster Bruce Abbott wrote the introductions.

For almost a year I have been preparing to write a follow up IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAMMY LEON. I have now decided it will not be a follow up but a rewrite of the 1971 text.

ANYWAY here is this special opening day programme. THANK YOU SO MUCH DAPHNE.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

NORTH BUCKS DIVISIONAL EXECUTIVE

 

OFFICIAL OPENING

 

of

 

THE LEON SCHOOL BLETCHLEY

 

by

 

THE RT  HON  LORD BELSTEAD

Joint Parliamentary Under – Secretary of State

for Education and Science

 

 

on WEDNESDAY 10^th March 1971

at 2.30 pm

 

 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE EDUCATION COMMITTEE:

 

Chairman

RT HON THE  EARL HOWE CBE DL JP

 

Chief Education Officer

Roy P Harding ESQ  BSc  FIMA  DPA

 

North Bucks Divisional Executive

 

Chairman:

F W FINLOW Esq

 

Divisional Education Officer

D G LUCAS  Esq BA

 

School Governors (1970 – 1973)

 

K FULLER Esq  (Chairman)

I T E  GADESDEN Esq  (Vice Chairman)

W A CALDWELL Esq

A G CAMPBELL Esq

Mrs G E GREENWAY

E HOLDOM Esq

Mrs  D J PHILLIPS

Mrs.S.SNOOK

R A Swepston Esq

H C WEATHERHEAD Esq

CANON K WRIGHT

 

 

County Architect

F P POOLEY Esq

CBE FRIBA MI Struct E  AMTPI

 

Main Contractors:

QUEENSWAY BUILDERS LTD

 

 

School Staff:

 

D B BRADSHAW Esq  BA (Headmaster)

A J COZENS Esq (Deputy Headmaster)

Mrs J C Kilpin (Senior Mistress)

 

J A ARMSTRONG Esq                                     Mrs H J F HOLLAND

Mrs M P BALLENGER                                      A R HOWE  Esq

Mrs G BARFORD                                             H I C JONES Esq

Miss S H BENFORD                                         M E LEONARD Esq HNC

D J R BUCANNAN Esq                                     Mrs P M MEAD

Mrs D M CAPP LTCL                                        Miss J S MORGAN

R P CARD Esq                                                 J MORRIS Esq NDD ATD

G L COPSON Esq  BA                                     Mrs J A PERKS

Mrs G COOPER-SMITH                                   Miss G M PHILLIPS

W T R CROSS  Esq.                                        Mrs Z M PILGRIM

M D CROSS Esq.                                             Mrs V S ROPER

P C CUTLER Esq.                                            W J ROSE  Esq

Miss K DAVIES                                                J G SNINER Esq BA

Miss. S.Derry                                                   Mrs  A B STOPFORTH

J T W GARNER Esq                                         Miss J M TAYLOR

M P GAUDIN Esq                                             Miss P A THOMPSON

Mrs M C GRIFFITHS                                        Mrs E A TIMOTHY

J F HACKET Esq B Comm                               Mrs O B J WHITFORD

W J HARE Esq BA                                           B J WILLIAMS Esq BSc

R HELLOWELL Esq                                         Mrs P WOOLFORD

 

                                         Mrs E ARNOLD (School Secretary)

                                         Miss L ROGERS (Cook Supervisor)

                                         Mr D CLARKE (Caretaker)

 

 

 

ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS

 

1.       The Chairman – Rt Hon The Earl Howe CBE DL JP

 

2.       The Headmaster – D B Bradshaw Esq BA

 

3.       OFFICIAL OPENING – The Rt Hon Lord Balstead MA JP

 

4.       Dedication – The Rt Rev The Lord Bishop of Buckingham

 

5.       Vote of Thanks – K Fuller Esq

 

The Head Girl - Tracey Stevens

 

6.       National Anthem

 

 

   

LEON SCHOOL   WATER EATON

The new school complex is sited within the new Water Eaton housing development on the fringe of what will be the new city of Milton Keynes. Its 26 acres of grounds include playing fields and the new school buildings themselves, a district heating boiler house designed to serve all County administered property in the area, and a flood-lit running track and hard surface playing pitch.

The school is designed mainly with single and two storey blocks, to complement the ground contours, and to ensure the new first-year pupil is faced with a building within human scale and of contemporary simplicity. To this end, also, the various faculties have been laid out around internal courts, giving additional light and pleasant sitting out areas, while the interior has been designed to achieve as near a balance as possible between the necessity for hardwearing materials and the right kind of environment.

From the glazed entrance hall, stairs lead to the administrative accommodation and reference library at first floor level, and behind it, a three storey humanities block centres on grass courts bounded on one side by the music and drama rooms and a two storied science and mathematics wing on the other. The southern court is approached by paved colonnades under the domestic science and language block, a wide lawn separating the dining room and lecture theatre on one side and the English faculty on the other, while around the perimeter are planned an engineering and craft block, rural studies accommodation, a sports hall laid out for basketball, badminton, netball and cricket practice.

Construction has now commenced on the second phase of the school, which will cater for 600 additional pupils, bringing the total 1,400. Here a five-storied general teaching block will mark the culmination in vertical build-up, again surrounded by quiet lawns. Craft, woodwork and metalwork rooms, domestic science rooms, and first floor science accommodation, all planned around this central core. Provide a well-integrated Lower School. Further sixth-form study rooms are included, to augment the existing teaching rooms and communal suite, this latter area will perhaps be seen as the most informal in treatment, the aim being to bridge the gap in the environment between school and university.

Certain areas of the school have been provided by Bletchley UDC and by Milton Keynes Development Corporation. This marks a major step forward in the concept of joint provision and dual use of schools. The UDC have financed the provision of the floodlighting and the hard surface playing-pitch, and the Development Corporation have added a small sum to provide a social area. Pitch and running-track, sports hall, changing rooms, swimming pool and lounge, will form a recreational and athletics complex for the use of both school and public second to none in this area.

The school was designed by the office of the County Architect, and the firs phase was built by Queensway Builders Ltd at a cost of £406,200.

County Architect: F B Pooley CBE  FRIBA  FRICS

Deputy County Architect: A R Walker Dip Arch  ARIBA

Assistant County Architect: A G Humpston B Arch  ARIBA

Architect In Charge: D Aylett Dip Arch (Hons) ARIBA

Chief of Works: F C Coles