The Recorder, Thursday June 7, 1934
Mayfield School Opened

Another Step in Schools Reorganisation
Senior Pupils Only

Mayfield non-selective Central School, Goodmayes-lane, Goodmayes, built and equipped at a cost of £440655, was opened on Thursday by the Mayor of Ilford in the presence of a large number of civic dignitaries and members of the public. The Director of Education said that the opening of the school raised one more landmark on the educational landscape of the borough. The school stood on a site of 5½ acres, being quadrangular in design and of two storeys, so as to give maximum light and ventilation.
It was non-selective in type and would accommodate 400 boys and a similar number of girls, between the ages of 11 and 14. The boys would occupy the ground floor and the girls the first. The south, east and west blocks would be utilised for giving instruction in ordinary subjects and the north block provided a full-sized science room for boys and a domestic science room for girls. There was ample cloak-room accommodation. The playing field was a fine asset, being capable of providing a running track and netball pitches, still leaving room for games.
The authority has appointed Mr. H. J. Hack and Miss M. E. Tappenden, both of the Beal School, as headmaster and headmistress, respectively; and they assumed their responsibilities receiving the congratulations of all. The question of further staffing the school was still engaging the attention of the authorities.

Adolescent Education

The Chairman went on to explain that the school reorganisation was the outcome of the now famous Hadow Report. The Hadow Commission was set up by a previous Government to consider the question of adolescent education and they came to the conclusion that there were two parts in a child’s life: the primary section 5 to 11, and the post-primary section 11 to 14. The primary and middle schools could be mixed or separate, but the post-primary schools had to be single schools of two kinds.
There was no doubt that when the Commission issued their report they had visualised the possibility that the school leaving age would be going up to 15. The report laid down that the schools for the primary and post-primary should be entirely separated from each other.

Free Transport?

He knew the question of transport was exercising the minds of the parents; some of the boys would have to come long distances, and whilst the authority was entirely sympathetic as to the difficulties that would arise they were definitely appealing to the parents to make their difficulties as small as possible. He could not imagine that any of them would object to sending their boys to Beal School, and that would be a much greater distance to travel. When they came to consider that the curriculum at the Mayfield School would fall little short of that at the Beal School, he was sure that the parents would make every effort to send their children to Mayfield. The authority however, definitely promised that where cases of real hardship arose they would provide what transport they could.

Ilford Recorder transcript provided by Robin Froumin