The Elmgreen School in our interim site and our new building, due to open in 2009

The Elmgreen School six months on

It has been 6 months since The Elmgreen School opened its doors on September 10th 2007 to 180 Year 7 students and a staff of about 30. 

The school, located in West Norwood, South East London, is unique because it is a Parent Promoted Foundation School, the only one of its kind in the country.

The school is currently housed in a temporary building whilst the new school is being built nearby.  The school will move to the new site in September 2009 which will be great because there is only enough room for two year groups in the temporary site. The numbers will rise to 1100 students in total, when we move to our new location.

We asked Head Teacher, Asma Mansuri, what makes The Elmgreen School special.  She told us that it is the first school to open as a Humanities Specialist College and she believes the people at the school are special.  She thought it was very brave of the students and parents to come to a school that had just opened.

A lot of events have taken place in The Elmgreen School in the last 6 months.
On the 3rd of October 2007 the school arranged a fully funded residential experience to Marchants Hill, Surrey. There, they did a lot of fun activities.

They had a cake sale for Children In Need and raised an amazing £40!
There was a disco for the perfect attendees on Wednesday the 5th of March, which took place in the drama studio.  Ms Mansuri said she thought this event was fantastic, but as she isn’t a ‘young member of staff’ she didn’t go in as she wasn’t invited.

Martin Wagner who is a Parent Governor of the school said, ‘The Elmgreen School is doing really well.  The Head Teacher and staff are still as enthusiastic as on day one and the children are really happy.’   He added, “I think the second year will bring new challenges, with a new year of students starting school, but with all the groundwork done, it should be just as successful as the first.”

Plans for the future are very exciting.  Mr Willis, part of the team in charge of designing and building the new school said, “The first floor of the new building is larger than this whole school.”