Leigh Academy Halley Site
As you drive down Corelli Road, a typical narrow south-east London suburban street in SE3, you would never imagine that the discreet and unassuming school entrance to Leigh Academy Halley could open up into such a vast and wide open green space behind this limited facade.
The Academy sits peacefully within its tranquil setting of nearly 13 acres (55,000 m²) of ‘green belt’ land, bordered by residential housing. These calm, tree-lined roads and avenues form a haven around the Academy and belie the fact that we are just a stone’s throw from the bustling triangle of the main arterial roads of Shooters Hill, the South Circular and the A2 Rochester Way, which all service the Academy well with their good public transport connections.
The school buildings are spread out generously over the estate, with two sizable and distinctive grass quadrangles in the centre of the main school blocks where students can play and socialise outdoors during their break times.
We also enjoy the luxury of our own dedicated playing fields adjoining the main academy buildings, which incorporate three full-size football pitches. When we hold our annual Academy Sports Day our students and staff are spoiled by only having to walk a few yards to the wide-open expanse of our adjoining playing field. Such a resource is a rarity in inner-city schools.
Our Academy buildings were constructed by leading architects back in 1954 and are sufficiently noteworthy to be given “listed status”, testimony to their character and practicality. Our Main Hall is both impressive and spacious and, along with our light and airy Reception Foyer, is available to hire for functions, such as weddings and community events.
Our large plot of land affords us the space to be able to offer our students a wide number of specialist teaching spaces including:
- Sport (Basketball, Football, Athletics)
- Drama
- Music
- Art
- Technology
In addition, we have The Tallow Chandlers Engineering and Design Centre which affords students the opportunity to use specialist state-of-the-art equipment in an authentic environment. We also benefit from a newly constructed Sports Centre, which includes a full-size indoor Sports Hall as well as a Dance Studio and Fitness Studio.
Our sports facilities are also available to hire, along with the outdoor football pitches on our adjoining playing field.
We have our own Sixth Form provision on-site, with places available to students who have and have not studied at the Academy during their Key Stage 3 & 4 years.
We welcome you to come and visit the Academy and our grounds at any time. To arrange an appointment for a viewing simply complete the contact form on our Contact Us page.
Our Heritage
Our school has the distinction of being Britain’s first purpose-built comprehensive school.
Opened to international acclaim in 1954, its architecture reflected the British feeling of recovery and optimism in the aftermath of World War II. Originally an all-girls’ school, Kidbrooke Comprehensive School for Girls, it was officially opened on 15th June 1955 by Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
The school was built on the site of a former aerodrome by London County Council for “the children of the heroes of the Second World War”, with the school colours of blue and grey based on the uniform of the Royal Air Force.
The school buildings were originally planned in 1949 and subsequently redesigned (by architect Charles Pike of architects Slater, Uren and Pike) in 1951 to meet spending cuts.
Because it was built during a time of post-war austerity the architects were challenged to produce enough teaching accommodation with a drastically-reduced budget. To do this, they employed clever planning by limiting circulation space between classrooms, designing dual-use spaces and restricting the level of the buildings to a maximum of three storeys.
Two noteworthy features of the school were:
- The central Assembly Hall, which had a standing capacity for the whole school of 2,000 pupils for morning prayers, and featured a domed ceiling for optimised acoustics
- The Domestic Science section, which had all of the model appliances the girls would encounter when they ran their own homes. Amazingly, there were even fully-furnished mock ‘flats’ in the school in which the girls could practise their homemaking skills!
The founding Headteacher for 19 years, Dame Mary Green, was determined to ensure that all the pupils in her charge fulfilled their potential. She was allegedly “so proud”of the fact that the local people called her pupils ‘Smarties’, thinking it was a reflection on their intelligence. In fact, her pupils knew the nickname came from the bright berets they had to wear outside school – a different colour for each of the eight houses!
From 1982 Kidbrooke started admitting boys to become co-educational, in order to compete with the other mixed comprehensives in the area. It changed its name from Kidbrooke School to Corelli College Co-operative Academy when it became an academy in September 2011. In March 2018 the school joined the Leigh Academies Trust and became Leigh Academy Halley.
One of the main ground floor corridors, showing the Main Hall with its domed roof through the windows.
Stairs leading up to our Reception Foyer, with its “floating gallery” top right.
View of the stage in the Main Hall from the right-hand gallery.
Folding doors at the entrance to the Main Hall.