A school leaving party like no other as more than 850 students and staff return to The Bishop’s Stortford High School’s 67-year-old campus for the last time

The Indie’s David James was one of more than 850 former students and staff who returned to The Bishop’s Stortford High School for a leaving party like no other, ahead of the site’s permanent closure at the end of term...

Construction on the London Road campus began in the early 1950s and it opened in September 1957 for the start of that academic year.

With more than 10,000 boys (and later girls) through its doors in its 67-year history, the school will be reopening for the new term this September on a site at St James’ Park, off Whittington Way, less than half a mile away.

Former pupils, ranging in age from their teens to their 70s, returned on Saturday July 6 to walk down the Tee Corridor for the last time.

During the day there was music from current school ensembles, plus performances from former students including Will Barnado, Robin Franklin and Jonny Brewer.

In addition to a licensed bar and food, all school artwork had been taken down from the walls and was available for purchase. Jonathan Whitmore, who left in 2015, joked that he had bought his own painting.

There was an exhibition about the history of the school, curated by former member of staff Peter Webb, in the sixth form centre.

Guests were invited to bid for the honours boards in the hall, which cannot go to the new site; the names of previous winners are to be recorded in a different way. Given that the boards are 15ft long, more than 15 of them have been purchased.

Three long-standing members of staff – Simon Etheridge (religious studies and citizenship), David Hows (physics) and Nick Patterson (English) – ran ‘lessons’ during the afternoon which were heavily oversubscribed.

Simon started with a register and planned to hand out detention slips, before joking that visitors were paying to come back to the site to view the ancient ruins of the school.

All three described it as humbling and surreal, with 30 years of a teaching career condensed into one afternoon. Many teachers do not get to see and interact with pupils who left years earlier, so catching up with where everyone had gone since leaving was particularly fascinating.

The afternoon ended with a glorious rendition of the school hymn Jerusalem in the school hall.

It was a party like no other, which will never be repeated, but the ethos of the school will continue from September in its new home.