Chesterton Community College, Gilbert Road, Cambridge

History of Chesterton Community College

25 October 1935 — New Senior School
The new Senior School off Gilbert Road, Chesterton contains separate departments for senior boys and girls, each with its own assembly hall fitted with a stage and cinema projection room. The boys department has science laboratory and woodwork and metalwork rooms while the girls’ includes provision for cookery, laundry and dressmaking. A changing room, fitted with shower baths, has been included in connection with organised games.

Credit: Mike Petty, 35 10 25a.

10 June 1949
Picketing by Jews and Communists outside the Chesterton secondary modern boys’ school resulted in the abandonment of a meeting which was to have been held there by the British People’s Party. Inside the hall, which had posters, “Britain awake”, on the walls, there were eight people by the time the meeting was due to start. The meeting had been well advertised however, 2,000 handbills having been circulated. The Party believe that bad as the Conservatives certainly are, they would not do so much damage to the country as an extension of Labour rule.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 1949 06 10.

10 April 1954
The Headmaster of Chesterton Secondary Modern School, Mr G.W. Manfield, has left to take up a teachers’ training post in Malaya. He had been appointed in 1935 when the school was just being built and gradually its reputation had grown. Chesterton was known as a school of scholars and boys can obtain a very good situation. It is doubtful whether any other school is sending as many boys to training colleges to become teachers themselves.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 1954 04 10.

4 August 1955
Men of the 629 Airborne Light Regiment R.A.T.A., formerly known as the “Cambridgeshires”, have completed their first parachute training course. In just two weeks the men who come from all walks of life have been transformed into fully-fledged parachutists and 140 of the volunteers will receive their wings. They include Captain L.S. Brown who as headmaster of the Chesterton School had decided to set the boys an example. But he landed awkwardly and became a visitor to the therapy centre for treatment.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 55 08 04a.

2 April 1957
Television sets are to be installed at Chesterton Secondary Modern School in an experiment to assess the value of this type of visual aid. In the years to come they may be as common as radios. However Coun Gardner-Smith claimed children spent a lot of time watching television: “Is it any wonder they are illiterate. This is simply another way of wasting time”.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 57 04 02a.

16 December 1958
Miss W.M. Farnsworth, headmistress of Chesterton Girls’ School is retiring. She has been in charge since the school opened in 1935. It was the first of its kind to be opened in Cambridge as a result of the Hadow report of 1926 which recommended special provision for all children over 11 years. Previously it was thought that children not at grammar schools must be taught to be practical and develop handicraft skills rather than developing academic intelligence. She says schoolgirls are now taller, healthier, more graceful and beautiful than they used to be, as a result of anti-natal care and welfare services or increased facilities for physical education.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 58 12 16 & a.

29 March 1979
The heads of two Cambridge schools are picking up the pieces after a week of violence in which pupils were assaulted and rival gangs tore through playgrounds. Mr Oliver Gaggs head of the Manor and Mr Tony Newall head of Chesterton School feel that schools are being asked to assume and day-and-night responsibility of their pupils which they cannot achieve. Mr Newall said; “Raids between schools have always taken place. In a way it’s nice to know that they identify with the school and there is an honour which they want to protect. It’s a pity that the methods are so misguided.”

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Chesterton Scrapbook, reference 1979 03 29.