School history

Hyland House School is one of more than five thousand schools, colleges and universities operated throughout the world by the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church Organisation. 

Hyland House School is a small primary school located in Tottenham in North London.
The school started in 1923 in Grove Road, Walthamstow – a suburb in the north-eastern part of Greater London – largely through the influence of the late Dr. Frederic Carny Shone, who had a medical practice there. He desperately wanted an Adventist Christian Education for his three sons, so suggested to the church organisation the need for a church school. His request was turned down. However, not wanting to take “no” for an answer, he decided to start the school in Grove Road anyway.

The first headteacher was Miss Tapping, who was later succeeded by Miss West. Miss West remained in charge until the school was disbanded in 1939 when the bombs of the Second World War started to fall. 

It wasn’t until 1949 that the school re-opened in a new home at the back of the Forest Hydro, off Forest Road, Walthamstow.  This was a lovely old home which had been converted into a nursing home and treatment rooms by Dr. Shone.  Dr. Shone was mainly responsible for the conversion of the school premises and put in much personal labour, including the installation of central heating.  The new head of the school was Miss Hazel Maudsley. She had 12 children in her care at that time.

In 1954 the whole estate came under a compulsory purchase order for development.  Only Hyland House, used during the Hydro days as a surgery by Dr. L. G. White, remained standing.  Flats for the elderly were then built on the grounds of what was the Hydro Estate. To avoid closure, Hyland House was leased to the school by the Council.

Miss E. Trott then took over the headship of the school, with an enrolment of 34 children.  At that time the school did not occupy the whole house.  The school had the ground floor, a family lived on the first floor, and someone else lived in the attic rooms.  Miss Trott worked tirelessly to increase the number of children on roll and, under her leadership, it grew.  By 1962 the remaining part of the house became vacant, so a nursery class was added and by 1966 the enrolment reached 86.

In 1966 Miss Trott, after 12 years of service, retired and handed over the headship to Mr. Norman Wright, who had been the head of our Fletewood School in Plymouth.  In that year a pre-fabricated classroom was put up in the playground and was still operational in 2015.  

When Miss Cady took over leadership many improvements were made – a layer of tarmac was applied to the remainder of the playground, and a new block of girls’ toilets was added.  In 1975, Miss Cady reported that there were children attending the school from six of the London churches. Elders Luther Rodney, Eustace Anthony and David Best played a significant role in encouraging more of the local church members to send their children to Hyland House School. Parents have always praised the work of the school.  In fact, one grandparent, who never tired of singing its praises, left a gift in her will to support SDA Education at Hyland House School. 
The teaching staff changed a lot in the time of Miss Cady’s tenure. Since then there has been a relatively stable staff team.  There has been good loyal support from our British teachers, but there have also been teachers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. Headteacher, Mrs Cook, was Australian. 

In 1987, Mrs Thelma Ebanks (formerly known as Mrs Thelma Thorpe) took over the mantle as headteacher. She was a professional who insisted on high standards in all areas of the school life – from academics to uniform. One of her great assets was her belief in the children’s abilities to achieve. She would not let them settle for mediocrity. With her excellent eye for detail the school prospered and thrived. 

Mrs Gina Abbequaye took over in September 1999 and built on the superb work of the previous leaders. Her skills of supporting her staff and maintaining a united, happy, successful team resulted in staff who were happy to give their all in service to the Lord. The spirit of empowerment is one of her many unique qualities. 

Under Mrs Abbequaye’s leadership, the most recent Report (November 2018) Ofsted stated “Early Years continues to be outstanding”. The Primary School was graded as “good” in all areas: Effectiveness of Leadership, Management, Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare as well as for Outcomes. 

Relationships between the staff and pupils and between the pupils themselves are warm, caring and respectful. Pupils are confident in speaking to staff and will share their problems and ask for help with their work, assured that they will have a positive response.

One year 6 pupil commented,
’Teachers always give you extra help if you don’t understand – they feel for you when you are stuck. Ofsted has stated that “There were examples of good and outstanding teaching.”                                                       

Hyland House children enjoy a balanced curriculum. Socially, they are confident and enjoy welcoming visitors to the school. The hearty “Good morning ‘visitor’, good morning everybody” always surprises and produces a bright response from a visitor. Spiritually, the children love to praise God through song, mime and drama; they use their talents for the glory of God. Academically, there is a readiness to learn, to show their work and progress is regularly displayed and celebrated; SATs results had been impressive in the past and with the new curriculum terms – children are exceeding national expectations. 

At Hyland House, as well as caring deeply for each other, the children are taught to think about, pray for and physically help others. To embrace the community, the Harvest programme involves a monetary donation to Stoke Newington Church which supports their “Feed-the-Homeless” programme. The annual fete is a further community event. The children have also collected large amounts of money for sponsored charities such as Dr Barnardo, NCH Children’s Charity (now Action for Children), Comic Relief, Cancer Research and the SDA charity ADRA. 

September 2015 marked a significant milestone for Hyland House School. There was a tangible buzz and excitement among pupils, parents and staff. Why? Hyland House School moved to the newly renovated Holcombe Road site -  a 21st century facility of education. 

The new site offers space for separate classrooms for each year group (currently two year groups are combined); specialist classrooms: 2 science labs, 2 art rooms for the Infants and juniors respectively; a well-equipped age appropriate gym; facilities to offer hot school meals; a school hall; food technology room, library; music room; separate French classroom; improved play areas and much more.  

We look back with thanks and gratitude for the firm foundations laid by previous headteachers and look forward to securing a 21st century Christian school with the Lord as the Master.

The proprietor of the school is the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The aim is to maintain this Independent Primary School to ensure that the Adventist philosophy of education and principles of faith and learning continue to be embedded into the life of the school.