Private schools Tollington Park College, a private educational establishment for boys, was founded by William Brown in 1879 in
Tollington Park, London N4. Rapid population growth around
Muswell Hill created the need for a new school. Campbell Brown, the founder's son, established Tollington Boys School in Tetherdown, Muswell Hill in 1901. Brown then opened Tollington High School for Girls in nearby
Collingwood Avenue in 1910. In 1919 both schools were purchased by the local education authority. Aside from the senior management, the two schools operated independently.
Grammar schools After
World War II, this became a state grammar school and the attached preparatory school became Tetherdown Primary School (this moved from the site in 1958 when it exchanged premises with the girls' grammar school). In 1958 the current building was erected and Tollington High School for Girls and Tollington Grammar School for Boys merged to become
Tollington Grammar School (co-ed). In 1955,
William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School (named after a local councillor) opened on an adjoining site in Creighton Avenue, taking the senior classes from Coldfall Council School. It offered extended classes from 1961.
Creighton Comprehensive School With the introduction of comprehensive education in Haringey in 1967, Tollington Grammar School and
William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School were merged to form
Creighton School. Charles Loades, head of William Grimshaw since 1958, became head, remaining until his retirement in 1974. In the early 1970s, Creighton School became the centrepiece of a
Labour Party educational experiment. Situated in the middle-class, largely white suburb of Muswell Hill it was decided to integrate a large number of Afro-Caribbean and other ethnic minority children into the school from distant parts of the borough in an attempt to maximise education choice and social interaction – a policy based heavily on the United States' then-current system of
desegregation busing. In 1975, before this new intake had worked through the school, around one-third of the Sixth Form was either a first-generation immigrant, or had a surname of Cypriot or Asian origin. During Nixon's tenure, the school routinely achieved 70% or more of students attaining five A*-C grade GCSEs, including in English and maths, was ranked among the top 100 non-selective comprehensive schools in the UK, and was noted for "valuing inclusiveness and egalitarianism".
Foundation status In the summer of 2006, the
school's governors and recently-appointed headteacher Aydin Önaç proposed to change the school's status to that of a foundation school. The governors argued that the increased autonomy from the LEA provided by foundation status would be beneficial to the school, while critics argued that the proposal was an attack on the school's comprehensive nature and would lead to a reduction in provision for pupils with
special educational needs. On 1 September 2007, Fortismere became a foundation school – despite opposition from 70 per cent of parents and a petition from students demanding to be consulted on the changes. Önaç's reforms were marked by a conscious effort to attract middle-class children from affluent backgrounds in place of the racially and socially diverse communities that had previously made up the student body at Fortismere – he told the
Evening Standard: "I estimate that a family with two children will save £250,000 in private school fees by sending them to us and [the school's sixth-form block] Tetherdown, and a family of four £500,000", and reflected that after he had been in post for two years implementing his reforms, "most families here are wealthy or middle-class". Parents sought a
judicial review of Önaç's approach to
special needs provision, but in December 2009 abruptly he resigned from his post mid-academic year, soon after the legal action started. The action was subsequently discontinued and special needs provision improved after Önaç's departure.
The Times divulged that Freedom of Information requests revealed 72 A-Level students had been forced out during Önaç's tenure at St Olave's. Parents at Fortismere would later liken Önaç's actions at St Olave's to his earlier actions at Fortismere. Under the new system, students were sorted into tutor groups that consist of students from Years 7–11. The school also introduced a
college system. Following an online vote, it was decided that the new 'colleges' would be named after the surnames of great writers and scientists. There were five 'colleges':
Franklin,
Keats,
Selvon,
Turing, and
Wollstonecraft. Some two years after Helen Glass stepped down as headteacher, co-headteachers Jo Davey and Zoe Judge revised the previous model, with a
horizontal tutoring system implemented, along with a focus on grouping students by year groups, contrary to the previous college system.
Madame Peng Liyuan visit On 21 October 2015, China's
first lady,
Madame Peng Liyuan, was welcomed to Fortismere School by Schools Minister
Nick Gibb, together with staff and students, as part of the official China state visit. The staff and students of Fortismere, which is notable for its
Mandarin teaching, performed Chinese Mandarin poems and songs for
Peng Liyuan. The visit followed an announcement made by
Chancellor George Osborne in September 2015, that a £10 million investment would be made to allow more children to learn Mandarin at school. == Campus ==