dining room on the ground floor of the Prep School. At the alert the children continued with their lessons, while a second teacher went into another room from where she could see the fire station tower. The Fire Station was in Fortis Green, next to St James's School and is marked with an F on the 1932 map on page 59. The tower was clearly visible fron Tollingon Prep School over the rear gardens. When a doodlebug appeared, the fireman hung a white sheet over the edge of the observation platform and the teacher ran to warn the class, who immediately crouched under the tables until the danger had passed 49.

Tollington Preparatory School had always been fee-paying. All the pupils wore green blazers with the initials TPS on the pockets. With the passing of the 1944 Education Act, and its promise of better and free education for all, schools like Tolly Prep. were in limbo. Nobody knew quite what would happen. Some private schools, with huge fees, determined to stay private, but the smaller schools with modest fees found the problem difficult. New parents were unsure whether to register their children for admission, so numbers fell. Many private schools closed at this point.

In the end Tollington Prep became a State Primary School to take all the local children who wished to attend. There were no fees but the parents were still willing, indeed anxious, for the children to continue to wear the green blazers. The search was for a new name. All the equipment, including all the gardening tools, was marked with the letters TPS, for Tollington Preparatory School, and the staff wanted to keep these initials. They thrashed around until some inspired person suggested Tetherdown Primary School, which was immediately accepted. 49

As the school numbers increased with the baby boom after the war, several huts had to be erected in the playground until the whole site became overcrowded. In 1958 William Grimshaw School was opened as a Mixed School in new premises in Creighton Avenue. Tollinggton Girls moved into the new Comprehensive School, freeing the Tollington Girls' School site in Grand Avenue, so Tetherdown Primary School moved in.

The premises were not ideal for Infants and Primary pupils but it became a very successful and popular school. Once again extra hutted classrooms had to be built on the playground to accommodate the extra children.

The Old Tollington Preparatory School building

Over the next few years the old Tollington Prep School building was used for various purposes, but in the early 1970s a Tutorial Class was opened there. In 1977 this became a full-time Tutorial Unit for children who needed particular help with their education. This was called Tetherdown Tutorial and helped a lot of children over the years.

In 1994 the Unit moved to 28 Philip Lane, N 15, but retained the Tetherdown name. This name will be a complete mystery to the next generation of pupils in Tottenham, un­less they read this book. To sum up, there is a Tetherdown in Grand Avenue and another in Philip Lane, neither of which is in its proper place.

Since 1944 all secondary schools have undergone many changes of name and nature as educational ideas have altered, leaving ages have changed, and pupil numbers have fluctuated. The way the different schools have amalgamated and changed direction is too large a subject to consider here. Perhaps someone will write a complete history one day.

63

49. Mrs Nesbit (Teacher at the school).