Herts and Essex High School mourns death of veteran head Joyce Hammersley
The woman who led the Herts and Essex High School “with enthusiasm and determination” for almost a quarter of a century has died in her late 90s.
Joyce Hammersley took charge in 1965 and retired from the Warwick Road secondary in 1989, presiding over dramatic change.
Her death was confirmed on Tuesday (October 15) in a message to the congregation of All Saints Church in Bishop’s Stortford by the vicar, Rev Simon Vivian.
Staff at Herts and Essex High were eager to pay tribute to Miss Hammersley. Executive head Cathy Tooze said: “It is with great sadness that we hear of Miss Hammersley’s passing.
“She was at the Herts and Essex helm during a time when the world was changing and she embraced this with enthusiasm and determination.
“The foundations of Herts and Essex as an inclusive, vibrant and modern school [were] strengthened by Miss Hammersley and we are grateful for the legacy that she gave us and which we continue to build upon.
“She was much loved by our staff and alumni and will be much missed. We send our thoughts and prayers to her family at this time.”
As Miss Hammersley took charge, Pearse House – the accommodation for Herts and Essex boarders on Parsonage Lane, named after the second headmistress – was to close.
The school then expanded to accommodate 1,000 pupils and the ‘New Hall’ and two teaching blocks were constructed.
In 1970, a sports pavilion – now the site of the Herts and Essex Sports Centre in Beldams Lane – was opened after a Jubilee Appeal.
Dame Betty Paterson, a former chair of Herts County Council and chair of school governors, did the honours.
She was eclipsed a year later by pop star Cliff Richard when the school’s swimming pool and changing rooms were completed.
Miss Hammersley threw herself into fundraising initiatives organised by the students - riding a horse for only the second and third times in her life, appearing as Goldilocks’ mother or the back half of a horse in the staff pantomime and dressing as a pearly queen.
She presided over a rich programme of visits by staff and students, both in this country and abroad.
From 1981, that included exchanges with the Maria Ward Schule in Mainz. This relationship endures with current students about to head for Germany in November.
The first male staff member was employed and the first boy was admitted to the sixth form during Miss Hammersley’s term.
In 2009, as part of the school’s centenary, she wrote about her time in charge: “For me, an abiding memory is of the senior choir standing in the entrance hall, with its remarkable acoustic, when we were inside the hall ready for the beginning of a carol service.
“Unaccompanied, they sang in parts the lovely German melody, Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen, for the carol, A Great and Mighty Wonder. Unforgettable? Moving? Sheer beauty. Thank you.”
She added the school’s motto “Sic itur ad astra”, which means reach for the stars.
As well as her long career in education, Miss Hammersley was renowned for her fundraising skills for good causes.
The Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust noted in 2020 that the then 92-year-old generated £1,718 for Holy Trinity in South Street and All Saints, Hockerill, by walking around churches in Cambridge.
Almost a decade earlier, she was a volunteer fundraiser for Birchanger Wood Trust, helping to generate enough cash to install an access-for-all path.
In 2022, to celebrate the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Miss Hammersley, then 95, joined neighbours from Oaklands Park, Oaklands Drive and Oaklands Close for a street party and judged a hand-made crown competition.
