Bushy Park Dependents School History
Opened: 1952
Closed: 1956
Bushy Park Dependents’ School was opened in 1952. When the school was opened the building was not complete. The first-year clubs were formed, dances and tours were organized, a Student Council was founded and a newspaper was published. As the year continued the new auditorium was completed, there was better lighting, curtains were installed for the stage and new typewriters arrived. Basketball, softball, soccer and track were established as school sports and the basketball team traveled to Germany to compete. At the end of the first year the school was accredited by the North Central Association.
Bushy Park Dependents School had students in grades one through twelve. When the school opened there were fourteen teachers. The alma mater for the new school was written by students Ann Hearn, Pat Piety and Nicky Gosset with the music done by the Mr. Keeping, the music teacher. The school published a yearbook, Londoner, the first year although due to lack of funds, it had to be a cardboard-covered yearbook. The first newspaper, High Times, was also published the first year of the school.
All girls belonged to the Girls Club and their task was to work on improvements for the school. The Drama Club was formed to attend plays and there was a journalism club. A photography club was formed by the boys who lived in the dorm in St. Andrews and the students built a darkroom in the basement of the dormitory. Girls’ athletics were baton twirling and cheerleading and the boys participated in competitive basketball, soccer, softball and track.
The first year there were two sections for grades one through four and one class for grades five through eight.
The school administrators for the first year were Dr. Thomas Richardson, Mr. Clarence Kennedy and Mr. V. Edgar Farned. The school was reconfigured as a separate elementary and high school at the end of school year 1955-56.
Some information from 1953 school yearbook