Education at Monoux in 1970

At a Committee meeting of the Old Monovians' Association on May 7th, 1970 a letter was read from an Old Monovian asking where the school fits into the current pattern of education. The following notes therefore are for the information of Old Monovians who are not sure what has been happening.
The original scheme whereby the school would become a 'neighbourhood school', basically serving the area to the south-east and north-east of our site was the subject of representations by the Old Monovians and others, and the point of view of the O.M.'s Association was most ably put to the Waltham Forest Committee for Education by A.E. Holdsworth, L.A. Moules and B. Perry. Alternative suggestions were made but eventually the Local Authority decided to continue with the original plan.
The boys who had been admitted to the school under selective scheme were allowed to remain here, but nobody under the age of 14 could be admitted after 1970. A high proportion of our intake comes from the Warwick Boy's School, (Old Monovians may remember this as the Barrett Road School), the Chapel End School and the William Fitt School in Cazenove Road. Provision is made whereby parents of boys attending other schools who wish their boys to attend this school can submit an application with this intention to the Local Authority.
As a result of these changes, in September this year we shall have a 4th form of approximately 180, a 5th form of approximately the same number, a_ first year 6th Form of approximately 100 boys and a second and third year 6th form of about 70, The strictly academic training of the 6th form will still be available but we shall also be catering for boys of very different abilities and ambitions, and we are making arrangements for boys not only to prepare for 'A' level but also to prepare for further 'O' level qualifications, and for boys whose training and abilities will not be completely fulfilled with work on an examination syllabus.
New buildings coming into use now allow for a great expansion of work in engineering and project work in the widest sense, while new art, pottery and three dimensional art rooms will enable us to extend and develop our work in the artistic field.
A new science block with laboratories for Physics, two-laboratories for Biology, one for engineering science and one for general science will enable us more fully to integrate the science department and will release rooms in the old building for other purposes.
The new buildings are exciting in their possibilities and we feel very proud that our pressures to develop engineering have given us an initial opportunity in this field.
We hope to have the whole of the new block open and ready for inspection early in September and when a date is fixed I will notify you. Old Monovians who would like to visit us on that day between
2-30 and 9pm will have an opportunity of seeing these buildings as well as the work in certain other branches of the School's life.
Certain Old Boys have at times expressed concern and doubt as to whether in its new form the school will be able fulfil its former functions and endear itself to its members as did the school in the days gone by. We are dealing with boys, just as we always have been, and although they come from a different age range and although we have them for far too short a time, I feel sure that that they will continue to maintain the high standards of manliness and integrity that have been characteristic of the Monoux boys and that they themselves will look back with pride, as other Old Monovians do, on the life and traditions of the School.
V.J. Stirrup
Headmaster.