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 Kingswood Primary School, built (1878-80) by local Dulwich builder George Ward. Originally designed to hold 600 pupils, the substantial extensions in 1904-05 increased pupil numbers to 1200.