Chessington School

In 1939, the Garrison Lane site of Chessington Community College was opened as RAF Chessington and was used as a barrage balloon centre in the defence of London in World War II. After a brief period of operation as a US Air Force base most of the land was sold off for housing; however some of the land was still under military ownership as recent as the mid 1990s.[2]

Before 1953, there was only one secondary school in the Chessington area, Moor Lane secondary mixed school, which was opened in 1936. After World War II, large areas of Chessington, east and west of the Leatherhead Road, were scheduled for building development to serve as overspill areas for Surbiton, Kingston and Malden. This meant that new schools had to be provided and it was decided by the then county council to build a new secondary boys' school in Garrison Lane and to retain Moor Lane as a secondary girls' school.

In September 1953, Fleetwood County Secondary boys' school was opened as a three-form entry school with 324 boys on the role. There were the usual problems connected with establishing a new school and others due to the following reason:

As house building in the area progressed, boys of all ages were continually being admitted to the school making a stable organisation almost impossible, and in some cases resulting in boys of different age groups being taught in the same classes.

The school very soon became overcrowded and this problem was accentuated because all the rooms had been built for classes of 30.

Some forms had more than 40 on roll and it was only just possible to get them into the rooms. This situation was relieved in 1958 by the addition of two classrooms and a library.

The number of boys from Chessington families was quite small with many boys travelling in from a distance. For the majority there was, as yet, no community tradition and the first settling down period of two or three years was difficult.

Time and the natural course of events solved most of these early problems; building slowed down and the annual intakes were reduced to the normal three-form entry. Casual admissions during the year became normal and forms were reduced in size so that no form was of more than 35, most being just below 30.

A healthy community spirit began to develop in the school with the increasing growth of extra-curricular activities, societies and other activities which had a noticeable effect on the attitude and behaviour of boys in general.

As a boys' school, Fleetwood was inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectors from the Ministry of Education in July 1962, just prior to the admission of girls. The inspection concluded that Fleetwood County Secondary School for Boys was a good school which made a most valuable contribution to the community it served.

Under the Surrey Development Plan for Secondary Education, girls were admitted to what was renamed Fleetwood County Secondary School, the first girls being admitted in September 1962 when 38 girls joined the existing 383 boys. In the following years, numbers began to rise as more girls joined the school.

During the 1980s, during a period of falling rolls and partly due to the geographical location of the school, numbers began to fall. Consideration was given by Kingston Local Education Authority to close the school. This angered many of the parents and residents in the Chessington and Hook areas who felt that local amenities were being taken away from the south of the borough to its detriment. Following a great deal of political debate locally, Kingston’s Education Committee decided to keep the secondary school in the south of the borough but given the complaints about lack of recreational facilities decided that a new educational establishment was needed in the borough which would also serve the community needs of the Chessington and Hook area.

In September 1989, Chessington Community College was established with Mr. J. P. Hayes as its first headteacher.[3]

In 1992, the College opened its £2 million sports centre which was built not only to provide indoor sporting facilities for the pupils of Chessington Community College but also to serve the sporting needs of the local community in the evenings and at weekends.[3]

The College progressed well under the headship of Hayes with the percentage of Year 11 pupils gaining 5 A* -C GCSEs rising from 19% in summer 1990 to nearly 50% in summer 1995.

In 2009, following years of construction as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme, Chessington College reopened following a rebuild worth £17 million.[4]

In 2016 Chessington Community College achieved their best ever GCSE results,[12] with 67% of children achieving Grade C or better,[11] 7.7% above the England average.[11]

In 2015 Chessington Community College achieved the following GCSE results

• 50% of students achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grade C or above including maths and English[13]
• 94.93% of students achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grades A-G (91.3% incl EM)[13]
• 97.83% of students achieved 1 or more GCSEs at grades A-G[13]

In 2014 63 per cent of Chessington Community College pupils had achieved five A*-C grades.[14]

In September 2015 Mr Ash Ali was appointed to the role of Headteacher promising to continue growth of community pride.[15]

• September 2015 to present – Mr Ash Ali
• September 2009[3] to September 2015[15] – Mr Rob Niedermaier-Reed
• September 2002 to September 2009 – Mr. D. Kemp[3]
• 1997 to September 2002 – Mr. J.P. Allen[3]
• September 1989 to 1997 – Mr. J. P. Hayes[3]