Hatfield Schools

By G. Philip Marris

Howe Dell School

From lessons in church halls through mergers, dame schools, floods, fires and expansions, to state-of-the-art, eco-friendly, 21st century schools, Hatfield has a rich history in the education of its children.

Hatfield Schools in History

Hatfield has known many schools since the foundation of two Charity Schools in the 1700s. The oldest known schools can be found on the Hatfield Schools in History page.

They include early incarnations of both Countess Anne School (today in School Lane) and St Audrey’s School, now Onslow St Audrey’s School (in Old Rectory Drive). A brief timeline for both these schools is given at the bottom of this webpage.

Schools of the Recent Past

To find a school no longer open, but which people may remember, visit our Schools of the Recent Past page. Alternatively, locate your school in the following list:

Hatfield Schools Today

Here is a (hopefully) complete list of Hatfield schools that are open today. Please contact the Editors of this site if we have missed any:

Timeline – Countess Anne’s and St Audrey’s

Students of Hatfield schools will undoubtedly find the history of these two schools quite hard to follow. Here therefore is a timeline, based largely on the “Hatfield and its People” series of booklets (republished by Hatfield History Society in 2014).

Countess Anne School

1732Anne, 5th Countess of Salisbury, founded a Charity School near Lawn House in Hatfield Park. It later moved to Town Lodge at the top of Fore Street.
1870sschool relocated to Church Street (in what is now St Etheldreda’s Church Hall)
1912Countess Anne Charity School closed.
1913infants from London Road School moved into the vacated premises in Church Street to become Countess Anne Primary School.
1962school relocated to School Lane / Endymion Road building vacated by St Audrey’s School (see below).

At the time of writing, Countess Anne Primary School is a Church of England Academy in School Lane, Hatfield. See its web site at http://www.countessanneprimary.org.uk/ [link opens in new tab].

St. Audrey’s School

1904school building erected in Endymion Road (near corner of School Lane)
1905boys from (overcrowded) London Road School moved in
1924girls from London Road School joined the boys
1926school officially renamed St Audrey’s Mixed School
1944school destroyed by V1 flying bomb
1946new school building erected on same site
1957St Audrey’s relocated to Traveller’s Lane
1985St Audrey’s amalgamated with Onslow School in Old Rectory Drive

At the time of writing, Onslow St Audrey’s School is a Business & Enterprise Academy located in Old Rectory Drive, Hatfield. See its web site at http://onslow.herts.sch.uk/ [link opens in new tab].

This page was added on 26/11/2016.

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  • Hatfield School is listed on this page as a Grammar School. It was actually a “Technical School” which was quite different. When I was there pupils of other schools referred to it as “the Tech” although it was separate from the Technical College next door. It was always “mixed” although boys outnumbered girls by 2:1.

    By Moira Cree (formerly Bain) (02/05/2020)