Our School Foundations
Our School Roots
The founder of our school was Monsignor Jules van Meenen, who was the first parish Priest of our Church, St. Mary’s Mother of God. Monsignor Jules van Meenen played a pivotal role in establishing and supporting our school throughout his whole time at St. Mary’s from October 1931-November 1963.
The first two Headteachers of our school were both Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Upminster. Sister Mary was appointed as the first Headteacher of our school from 1933-1959 followed by Sister Teresa who served our school as Headteacher from 1959-1990. They guided our school for a remarkable 57 years between them.
ST MARY’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL, HORNCHURCH:
A CHRONOLOGY
1 October 1931: Opening of Mass centre at Hornchurch by Canon Jules van Meenen.
15 December 1931: Opening of first (temporary) church.
26 December 1931: Canon van Meenen informed Bishop Doubleday that on 1 January 1932, subject to episcopal consent, he intended to publish the Public Notice for his intention to open a Catholic Elementary School for 400 pupils.
1 January 1932: Publication of Notice to provide a Catholic Elementary School at Hornchurch.
19 January 1932: Canon van Meenen sought Bishop Doubleday’s consent for the immediate construction of 4 classrooms for Infants & Juniors and 2 classrooms for children aged 11-14 years, with the intention eventually to build a separate Senior Department. At present he had 200 names of children eligible for the school.
24 April 1932: Canonical erection of the Parish of St Mary Mother of God, Hornchurch, with Canon van Meenen as the first Parish Priest.
7 August 1932: Canon van Meenen informed Bishop Doubleday that the Board of Education had sanctioned the building of a school for 300 pupils. He sought the appointment as Foundation Managers (Governors) of himself, Mr Samuel Angell (45 Rainham Road), Mr Patrick Butler (Hillcrest Road) and Mr Jerome Murphy (Mendip Road). The appointments were made on 12 August, the title of the school being given as ‘Our Lady Mother of God.’
25 March 1933: Opening of the present church.
24 April 1933: St Mary’s School opened (with 6 classrooms) under its first Headteacher – Sister Mary of the Incarnation RSHM (Sacred Heart of Mary Convent, Upminster. Canon van Meenen had originally intended the school as all-age range (up to 14 years) but the LEA determined that it should be primary age only (viz.5-11 years).
The first entry in our school logs
27 June 1933: Consecration of the church by Bishop Doubleday.
16 December 1933: First group of children from the school made their First Holy Communion.
1934: Addition of 2 further classrooms.
8 March 1934: Canon van Meenen expressed his concern to Bishop Doubleday with regard to provision for children aged 11+.
26 September 1934: Canon van Meenen sought the advice of Bishop Doubleday with regard to the publication of a Public Notice for the provision of a Senior School for 200 pupils. St Mary’s School had 264 on the roll (with a limit of 300) and 40 pupils aged 11 years and formerly at the school had recently entered non-Catholic secondary schools.
9 July 1936: Canon van Meenen sought permission from Bishop Doubleday for the erection of 2 further classrooms. The school roll stood at 365 but there was only accommodation for 300 pupils. Permission was duly granted.
1938: Canon van Meenen attempted to establish a school at Elm Park.
1939-1945: Second World War. Frequent air raids (1940-1944), especially on the nearby RAF Hornchurch, often disrupted the school routine. Air raid shelters were constructed in the school grounds.
School closure due to the outbreak of the Second World War recorded in our school logs.
28 November 1939: Opening of St Alban’s Church Hall, Carnforth Gardens, Elm Park, as a Mass centre served from Hornchurch. During the week it was intended to use the hall as an Annexe to St Mary’s School, although wartime conditions at first prevented this.
1942-1962: Mrs Clark served as the first School Secretary.
1946: Bomb Disposal units removed unexploded devices from the school grounds.
January 1948: Managers (Governors) applied to the Ministry of Education for the school to become state aided.
1 March 1948: Plans for an extension to the school were submitted to the LEA.
September 1948: St Alban’s Hall, Elm Park, became an Infant Department for St Mary’s School admitting children from the Elm Park area. It was subsequently designated a two-class Annexe to St Mary’s School.
8 February 1949: Bishop Beck applied to the LEA for the provision of a primary school at Elm Park – the first of many attempts to secure a school, a process that took no less than 22 years to achieve.
16 December 1949: LEA replied that plans for the extension of the school were now with the Ministry of Education in connection with the application for aided status.
1 April 1950: Canon van Meenen asked Bishop Beck whether he should add 2 temporary classrooms to the school himself or ask the LEA, adding that in 1945 he had applied to the latter for a canteen/dining hall and was still waiting. The Bishop duly consented to his adding the classrooms.
9 June 1950: Canon van Meenen informed Bishop Beck that the Essex Education Committee had approved plans for 2 temporary classrooms to be erected at the expense of the Managers (Governors).
4 February 1951: Canon van Meenen wrote again to the Ministry of Education to obtain state aided status for the school. Meanwhile 2 additional temporary classrooms were added to the school.
7 March 1951: Canon van Meenen informed Bishop Beck that arrangements had been made for a 50-seater coach to transport children from the new Harold Hill estate to St Mary’s School. Other pupils from the estate were accommodated at St Helen’s School, Brentwood.
21 June 1951: LEA agreed to paying for the cost of transporting children from Harold Hill to St Mary’s School, an expense hitherto borne by the Hornchurch and Romford parishes.
12 November 1951: Minister of Education approved application for the school to become state aided.
26 November 1951: Sealed Order from Ministry of Education granting aided status to the school.
7 October 1952: Sealed Instrument of Management issued by the Minister of Education.
4 May 1953: LEA consented to application being made to the Ministry of Education for St Joseph’s (Independent) Catholic School, Upminster, to be recognised as an Annexe to St Mary’s School.
20 July 1953: Bishop Beck informed Canon van Meenen that the Minister of Education had agreed to St Joseph’s (Independent) Catholic School, Upminster, being recognised as an Annexe to St Mary’s School and to being granted aided status pending the building of a new primary school at Upminster.
25 July 1953: Publication of Public Notice to enlarge St Mary’s School via the addition of St Joseph’s School, Upminster, as an Annexe.
3 September 1953: Ministry of Education informed Bishop Beck that it would not now be possible to approve the use of St Joseph’s School, Upminster, as an Annexe to St Mary’s School.
19 October 1953: LEA informed Bishop Beck that St Joseph’s School, Upminster, should be maintained as additional temporary accommodation for 110 pupils of St Mary’s School with effect from 1 January 1954 and that a proposal had been submitted to the Minister of Education.
1 January 1954: Recognition of the 4-class St Joseph’s Independent Primary School as an Annexe to St Mary’s School.
29 November-1 December 1954: HMI Report – 498 pupils on roll accommodated in 10 full-size classrooms and a small cloakroom. The school was overcrowded, had little storage space, and was without hot water in the children’s cloakrooms. Moreover, the hall and playground were small. There were 15 teachers on the staff (including the Headteacher). At St Alban’s Annexe there were 61 Infants accommodated in 2 rooms but the school operated in very confined circumstances. St Joseph’s Annexe was also housed in very inferior accommodation.
1959: Sister Teresa Allan RSHM succeeded Sister Mary as Headteacher.
1962: Ordination of Father (subsequently Bishop) Christopher Budd (past pupil).
1963: Ordination of Fathers John Hayes & John Timmins (past pupils).
27 January 1963: Bishop Wall, having consulted the Diocesan Finance Board, gave Canon van Meenen permission to build a new school hall.
25 September 1963: Monsignor Daniel Shanahan succeeded Monsignor Canon van Meenen as Parish Priest.
1964: Ordination of Father James Hawes (past pupil).
8 December 1964: Opening of the new school hall.
1965: Ordination of Father Denis Hall (past pupil).
1966: Ordination of Fathers John Lane (past pupil) & Richard Ashton (former teacher).
7 November 1967: Monsignor Shanahan informed Canon Hurley (Secretary of the Diocesan Schools Commission) that St Mary’s School had 563 pupils on the roll (including 61 at Elm Park). Of the 502 on the St Mary’s site, 355 were from the parish and 147 from other parishes (chiefly Elm Park, Gidea Park and English Martyrs, Hornchurch, but also Rainham and Romford).
September 1970: School roll stood at 645 housed in 15 classrooms with a staff of 16 teachers.
26 April 1971: Opening of the 1st phase of St Alban’s Primary School, Elm Park, whereupon the Annexe to St Mary’s School in Carnforth Gardens ceased to be used to educate children. 80 pupils transferred from St Mary’s School to the new school at Elm Park.
10 December 1971: Havering LEA expressed its concern with regard to overcrowding at the school.
18 January 1972: Monsignor Shanahan informed the Diocesan Commission for Education that the school roll stood at 562.
13 November 1972: Father Gerard Kerr succeeded Monsignor Shanahan as Parish Priest.
1973: Establishment of Friends of St Mary’s Association (FOSMA) in order to raise funds for a swimming pool.
1975: Opening of the swimming pool (open-air, subsequently covered in).
Summer Term 1975: Number on roll stood at 498 accommodated in 17 classrooms with a staff of 17 teachers.
Summer Term 1976: Number on roll stood at 511 with a staff of 18 teachers (including Headteacher).
Summer Term 1977: Number on roll stood at 491 with a staff as in Summer Term 1976.
Summer Term 1978: Number on roll stood at 466 with a staff as in summer Term 1976.
1982: Ordination (by Pope St John Paul II) of Father (subsequently Canon) Paul Bruxby (past pupil).
28 April 1983: Mass to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the school.
Summer Term 1983: Number on roll stood at 453 accommodated in 14 classrooms with a staff of 17 (including Headteacher).
3 October 1983: Father Francis Kerrigan succeeded Father Kerr as Parish Priest.
1 September 1985: New Instrument of Government came into effect (changes to the constitution of the Governing Body.
September 1985: Number on roll stood at 418 with a staff of 17 teachers.
23 October 1985: Opening of school bookshop.
January 1986: Number on roll stood at 454.
22 January 1986: 1st AGM of St Mary’s Parents’ and Friends’ Association.
April 1986: School roll stood at 450.
September 1986: School roll stood at 423.
January 1987: School roll stood at 450.
April 1987: School roll stood at 450.
1-5 June 1987: HMI Inspection – the school was commended on its excellent links with parents and the parish, exhibiting a strong sense of community and achieving high standards.
16 July 1987: Governors hosted the 1st Annual Parents’ Meeting.
September 1987: School roll stood at 434.
January 1988: School roll stood at 460.
April 1988: School roll stood at 457.
January 1989: School roll stood at 461.
April 1989: School roll stood at 461.
September 1989: School roll stood at 431.
January 1990: School roll stood at 461.
April 1990: School roll stood at 458.
September 1990: Mr Michael Coy succeeded Sister Teresa as Headteacher. School roll stood at 435.
September 1991: School roll stood at 428.
November 1994: Father John Hayes succeeded Father Kerrigan as Parish Priest.
23 May 1995: Chairman of LB Havering Council agreed that the LEA, rather than the Governors, should meet the 15% cost on the planned repair, refurbishment and replacement work (the Department of Education to pay 85%). The understanding was that the Governors’ decision to seek Grant Maintained Status (LMS) would be reversed if the LEA met the 15% liability.
8 June 1995: Result of the Parents’ Ballot regarding Grant Maintained Status – 65% against, 35% in favour, overturning the Governors’ decision.
June 1996: 1st OFSTED inspection – the school was commended for being very good, with staff, parents and governors working closely together, but in terms of the buildings, the inadequate temporary accommodation was noted.
September 1998: 63% oversubscription for places in the school (111 applications for 69 places).
25 October 1998: Sunday Times Supplement reported that the school was one of the best primaries in the country.
1998-2002: Extensive repair, refurbishment and replacement (of temporary classrooms) work undertaken.
24 May 2000: Diocesan Education Department sought a meeting with the LEA which, in its view, had reneged on the undertaking made in 1995 to find the 15% liability ordinarily payable by the Governors: LB Havering claimed that no official minute of the undertaking had been made.
23 May 2002: Bishop McMahon wrote to the Secretary of State for Education to request a determination on the matter of the LEA’s undertaking to meet the 15% liability.
12 October 2004: LEA was still prepared to offer only £17,000 (out of the £104,000 that represented the 15% liability).
26 February 2006: Diocese accepted the LEA’s offer of £17,000.
September 2009: Mrs Andrea Elliker succeeded Mr Michael Coy as Headteacher.
September 2011: Father Paul Fox succeeded Father John Hayes as Parish Priest.
October 2014-March 2015: Mr Paul Underwood & Mrs Nicola Brosnan (from St Winefride’s School, Manor Park) acted as Interim Headteachers.
March 2015: Mr David Leech succeeded Mrs Elliker as Headteacher.
September 2015: Father Martin Fletcher succeeded Father Fox as Parish Priest.
September 2020: Mr Garth Tucker succeeded Mr David Leech as Headteacher.
September 2023: Father Mark Reilly succeeded Father Fletcher as Parish Priest.
April 2023: We celebrated the 90th Anniversary of our school.
