|
|
 |
| |
Ex-pupils David Miliband, left, Oona King, 2nd from left,
and David’s brother MP Ed Miliband, far right, with
former teachers Vivien Jacobs, centre, Richard Page-Jones
and Kate Myers
Former pupil Marlon Harewood (centre-left) with Haverstock
pupils
Pupils Anjeza Ahmagjoka, left, and Iftekher Boksh with
Frank Dobson |
Ex-pupils agog at school's 'dazzling transformation'
Former students including government
minister praise new-look Haverstock
A SCHOOL which once felt like a grim Victorian prison has
been transformed into a magical world such as Dorothy might
have explored in The Wizard Of Oz.
That’s the view of high-profile ex-pupils of Haverstock
School in Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, who went back to class
on Thursday night to see the showcase opening of the school’s
refurbished buildings.
Twenty years after leaving the school, former Labour MP Oona
King – notoriously defeated at last year’s general
election by George Galloway – looked misty-eyed as she
described the school’s dazzling transformation.
She said: “It is unrecognisable from when I was here.”
The school has been completely rebuilt in a £21-million
project funded by a Private Finance Initiative scheme headed
by Kajima Europe.
Under the terms of the deal, the construction firm will continue
to manage the site.
The new-look school has been fitted out with interactive whiteboards,
more than 500 computers, a floodlit sports pitch and ten science
labs.
Ms King said: “I genuinely can’t believe it. It is
like being part of the Wizard of Oz. I look across at some of
the buildings and can’t believe that it is the same place.”
She recalled a cramped, rougher school where parents were unsure
that it was the right place for their children, adding: “It
was a tougher school back then. I had some friends at the school
that were taken out. They couldn’t be here.”
The school’s link to the Labour Party does not end there
– brothers David and Ed Miliband, both MPs, were also pupils
at Haverstock in the 1980s.
While David Mili-band, now a senior government minister, made
a flying visit to the gala, Ed Miliband stayed to watch special
performances by drama and music students.
He said afterwards: “When I was here it was rather like
a Victorian prison, the buildings were quite imposing. It was
completely different.”
Asked whether the crumbling environment had affected his own
education – given his rise through the Labour ranks –
Ed Miliband said: “We (me and brother David) did do okay
but that’s because the teaching at Haverstock has always
been good. It has always been inspirational. It is just the
buildings.”
Other guests included Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson,
Camden Mayor Barbara Hughes and former Camden Council leader
Jane Roberts, who said she could remember the days when bits
of plaster fell from the ceilings.
On Thursday a suspended sculpture by artists Kisa Kawaskami
was unveiled in memory of Richard Feilden, the architect for
the project who died last year when he was crushed by a tree
he was chopping down near his home in Bath.
West Ham United footballer Marlon Harewood, another former,
pupil, also returned to the school for the party, while Sir
Jonathan Miller, the polymath who lives in nearby Camden Town,
also attended.
The refurbishment hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in
September 2004 when Kajima failed to get the school ready for
the new term. The firm blamed bad summer weather. The project
was also hit by criticism that private deals should not be used
to refurbish schools.
Former chairman of governors Dave Moulson said: “Like Wembley
Stadium it’s a bit late, but, boy, is it worth the wait.”
Headteacher John Dowd said that he hoped in 100 years time that
Haverstock School would be regarded as “Camden’s best
school,” reminding party-goers that the school was becoming
a preferred choice for parents and already full up for next
year.
He said: “We were a school that had lost our confidence.
These buildings will help inspire pupils.”
Current chairman of governors Jim Mulligan added: “John
(Dowd) walks around each morning to check that this isn’t
all a dream.” |
| |
|
|
|
