gateway


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Gateway School was in Bury Street. It was situated next to the EMI factory near the River Pinn. Later it moved to King Edwards Road.

Comments from a former pupil....

As unlikely as this seems, I still have my Gateway Nursery School report from when I was 5 years old in 1957. It says that I have good control over crayon and scissors! The address is 7 King Edwards Road and the Principal's name is Mrs Joyce Stephenson, though my teacher's name it says is LN Wisely.

It was towards the end of King Edwards Road on the left (now turned into offices, though the building is the same).

I also remember the green 'tin tabernacle' in Bury Street near the River Pinn, made from corrugated iron. I think it was knocked down to make way for the Youth Club.

I remember being a pupil at the Gateway school in the early ‘50s. I recall I went there before joining Bishop Winnington Ingrams primary school when I was 5 in 1952. I had always thought it was a pre-school nursery. But I remember my father referring to it as “the old tin tabernacle”.

I remember making patterns from woven strips of coloured paper, and big pots of poster paint.

I also remember not being able to get on with other children and feeling very unhappy there. It was that experience that was at the back of becoming a teacher and in later years working in special educational needs.

Does anyone remember that period of the school’s life?

I too have old reports dating Autumn Term 1958, Summer Term 1958 and Spring Term 1959. I went there with my twin brother Nicholas Hammond and my name was Deborah Hammond. I remember sleeping after lunch at the school - not much else but the picture brought it back to me. I have tried to look up the Gateway School on Friends Reunited but could only find the Bishop Winnington Ingram school which was brilliant - one person had posted a photo with me and my brother on it!

I wonder if we were there together?

Dates of birth 25th June 1954

Any info would be great

Debbie Hammond (Whymant)

I was a pupil at Gateway School around 1951 / 52. I used to cycle my three wheeler bike from King Edwards Road to the Tin Tabenacle in Bury Street. My friend John Young lived in Sharps Lane and also cycled to school. His tricycle had blow up tyres. I was jealouse as mine only had solid tyres. Next door was the EMI? electronics factory doing some secret work I always thought as security at the gate was always very stricy.We still have a photo taken at gym practice in the hall. John Youngs eyes are closed he was probably asleep. There was a giant paper mache mushroom there that the children could enter. We used to weave things with long strands of raffia. I was a milk monitor. The milk was delivered by Express Dairy in metal crates containing 24 one third of a pint milk bottles.In summer the milk was warm from being left in the sun.I can still smell that rancid milk left over on hot summer days. Any unused milk was used in the school kitchen. Both my sisters Anna and Janet went to the Gateway School but a few years before me probably in the late 1940's.
Patrick Davies. Perth Western Australia

Two friends, Doreen Manson and Ena Panter, living in Church Avenue Ruislip, started teaching a few children in Ena Panter's house. Reputation soon meant new premises were needed, so they moved to the Church Rooms in Bury Street, and the friends were replaced by Miss Ridley who had previously been a teacher in Kelvin House (King Edward's Road Ruislip). The Church Rooms or the "tin tabernacle" as it was called was in the grounds next to and owned by the Vicarage under the authority of the Rev Cornwwall Jones.

All local functions were held here so the school equipment etc had to be all packed away after every day. Children up to the age of 6 were taken and taught the 3 R's plus games and physical exercise. At thhe age of 3 a child could go for a few hours one day a week. Milk was available for lunch break, but no afternoon school. When Miss Ridley retired a new headmistress bought it over Mrs Munro a mother of tf two children and a local resident. The school was by now well established and most local children went there before going to the newly build Bishop Winnington Ingram which was council-run and preparation for Manor Senior (secondary modern). Here pupils were prepared for their first exam called the Eleven Plus which decided the next stage. Pass that and many avenues were open fail and it was Manor Senior.
Getting to school was either by walking or cycling so the children went locally (I can remember one girl came on horseback). There was no inspection by any officials, and qualification was not necessary. Teaching was dedicated, unstressed and effective, proving to be a sure grounding for future education.

In 1924 there were five schools in the Ruislip area:

St Bernard's (boys only) Poplar Close (Mr Squires)
Hawtrey House, Ruislip Manor (Mr Stimpson)
? Windmill Hill (Miss Territ)
? Ickenham Road (Miss Gundry)
Kelvin House, St Edwards Road (Miss Todd)
And later
Gateway School, Bury St (Mrs Stevenson)


Above is a photo taken around 1952 in the Tin Tabernacle aka Gateway School on Bury Street. It shows my sister Anna Davies on the left side of the see saw on the stage in the Gateway School hall. We all remember those wonderful pictures on the wall of various fairy tales.		Above a copy of a photo taken around 1952 inside the Tin Tabernacle aka Gateway School Bury Street Ruislip. The photo shows myself and John Young sitting on the floor (he is on the left and I am on the right) listening to what looks like story time. I was 5 or 6 at the time. In the left back ground you can see the stage which took up one end of the hall. Patrick Davies Perth Western Australia