ounds of the expense to rate-payers, and for potentially radicalising the urban poor through secular education. Supporters like Charles Booth were unapologetic, believing in the power of universal education to transform society. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called Board Schools ‘'Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wiser, better England of the future'. The unpopularity of the Board with ratepayers, however, led to its abolition in 1902 and responsibility for educating London's children was transferred to the London County Council.
Bellenden Road School in Peckham (listed Grade II) was the first to open in the area in 1877. The first school to actually be built in East Dulwich was Heber Road Primary School in 1882. Designed by E R Robson, it is typical of his later work, and appears to be largely unaltered externally. The halls are located in the centre of the complex and an unusual tower marks the staircase at the west end. The twin facades to the north and south have flower motifs and plaques on every gable. The buildings were sympathetically re-roofed by Southwark Council about ten years ago.
Adys Road School was designed by T J Bailey when he was chief assistant to E R Robson - it is now the St Johns & St Clements C of E Primary School. Goodrich Primary School, T J Bailey's first school designed on his own, followed in 1886-87 and was published in the ‘Builder’ magazine the following year. There is a two storey (Boys and Girls) block with classroom façade facing to the north and hall façade facing south to the playground. The one storey (Infant) block to the south with has delicate bas reliefs on its gable ends. The roof which has been replaced, unfortunately without some of its original detail, and there is a later "bridging" block between the two main blocks which is less successful.
Goose Green Primary School (listed Grade II), originally called Grove Vale School opened in 1900. It sits on the site of a former plant nursery which was still in business as late as 1894. The body of the school consists of a three-storey block with the classroom façade to Grove Vale in the grand ‘late Bailey’ manner, rich in terracotta dressings. The style is neo-classical, almost baroque, with pediments, a cupola and a fleche but the building was never completed - the West wing is missing.
Moving westwards, Dulwich Hamlet School also received the Board treatment. Originally built in Gothic style by Charles Barry jnr. for James Allen’s Girls’ School in 1868 it was vacated when JAGS moved to East Dulwich Grove in 1886, the building was initially hired and later purchased by the Board. The result is a complex of Barry’s original building and one and two storey buildings, one of which appears to be an example of low key later Bailey.
In Lambeth, the Rosendale Primary School (also listed Grade II) dates from 1899. The site of this school was bought in 1894 for £2,800 despite some of the inhabitants of the adjacent houses protesting that the school would depreciate the value of their property and that there were “no poor children anywhere near”. Temporary iron school buildings for 360 children opened in January 1897. The permanent school provided accommodation for 476 children and 276 infants, and was built by Treasure and Son of Holloway for £15,589.
The Two-storey tall centre block has two wide bays whose paired central gables are divided by a tall chimney with a cupola on the ridge behind. The high-pitched tiled roof sweeps down to a moulded brick eaves cornice at much lower level. One-storey side wings have similar inner gabled sections and outer roofs with eaves much lower. Below the gables are tall windows; the flanking walls are blank but for ornamental panels with titles on the first floor of the central block. One-storey irregular return wings have projecting gabled ends and tall inner gables rising through eaves as in front. Curved brick shapes against a pale roughcast background give a Dutch appearance to the end gables
The other Board school in West Dulwich is the 