Catalogue description William Parker School, Hastings, formerly Hastings Grammar School, and Hastings Secondary Modern School for Boys (previously the Hastings Central School, Priory Road School, Bourne Walk Board School and Hastings Boys' British School)

For area office files, 1978-1981 see R/E 4/37/29-30

For a history of Hastings Boys' British School, 1840-1874 see E/SC/238/9/1; for title deeds of the school, 1836-1890 see R/C 4/206; for a file relating to the use of the site for the new Castledown Primary School, 1980-1982 see R/E 4/38/11; for minutes of the governing body of Priory Road School and its predecessor, Bourne Walk Board School, 1881-1939 see E/MA/81/1; for minutes of the Hastings School Board, 1891-1903 see R/E 4/1/29-33; for minutes of the governing body of Hastings Secondary Modern School for Boys, 1947-1978 see E/MA/185/1-2, 9; for HMI report, 1991 see R/E 1/15/11; for plans, 1889-1903 see R/E 4/1/139, 141, 157, 161; for area office file, 1974-1978 see R/E 4/37/26; for file concerning the use and redevelopment of the site of the former Boys' Secondary School at Priory Road on the erection of a new primary school there, 1980-1982 see R/E 4/38/11

For governors' minutes and other records, 1878-1985 see E/MA/81/2-8; for photographs, 1976-1977 see R/A 3/14; for minutes of the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Scripture Fund, which gave one fifth of its income to boys at the Grammar School, 1901-1917 see R/E 4/1/194; for file including HMI reports and abstracts of accounts, 1903-1930 see R/E 4/25/7; for area office files, 1974-1978 see R/E 4/37/21-24; for minutes of the Hastings CB (New) Hastings Grammar School sub-committee, 1930-1934 see DH/B 18/25-26; for deed of land fronting the allotment site in Priory Road, Hastings, conveyed by the Governors of the Hastings Grammar School Foundation to The Hastings Tramways Company, 1906 see ESCC deeds T9209; for microfilm copies of Parker's Charity School rents, 1828-1835 and Saunders' Charity School rents, 1824-1835 see XA 78/17; for charity commission schemes, 1878-1934, HMI reports, 1913-1937, staff registers, 1880-1942 and other papers, 1919-1944 see ACC 6244. For a history of the school see J M Baines and L R Conisbee The History of Hastings Grammar School, 1619-1956 (1956)

William Parker School, Hastings, East Sussex

Records transferred 21 May and 22 Jun 1993 (ACC 6090); 24 Apr 1996 (ACC 6829); 6 Feb 1998 (ACC 7637). E/SC/238 7/10 and 26/1 were transferred with records of Torfield School, 20 Sep 1999 (ACC 7979)

William Parker School

William Parker School was established in 1978 following the reorganisation of secondary education, and the introduction of comprehensive schools in Hastings. It was formed out of two schools: Hastings Grammar School, Parkstone Road, and Hastings Secondary Modern School for Boys, Priory Road. The William Parker School initially had premises in Parkstone Road, Priory Road, the Clive Vale Annexe and a new annexe which was built on the former Grammar school playing fields in Park Avenue. The Priory Road site ceased to be used in 1980, and was used for the new Castledown Primary School

Hastings Secondary Modern School for Boys

The school originated as Hastings Boys' British School, which became Bourne Walk Board School. The school was succeeded by Priory Road Board School for Boys, which opened in September 1891; the girls' school and a separate infants' school opened in 1899. It came under the control of the Education Committee of the County Borough of Hastings in 1903, following the 1902 Education Act. By 1926 it was known as the Priory Road Senior School for Boys and from 1948 as the Hastings Secondary Modern School for Boys

Hastings Grammar School

The school had its beginnings in two charity schools: The Parker School, founded by an endowment in the will of William Parker, the incumbent of All Saints, Hastings, in 1619, and a school established in 1708 under the will of James Saunders. The schools continued to 1878, sometimes under the same schoolmaster. For both there was a problem with accommodation, which had to be found by successive generations of trustees within the funds available

In 1878 the funds of the Parker and Saunders Charities were merged with part of the ancient Magdalen Trust to form the Hastings Grammar School Foundation. The new school building opened on 4 July 1883 in Nelson Road, then known as Standen's High Field

The school was granted 'Aided' status following the Education Act of 1944, then become 'Voluntary Controlled' in January 1959. As a result of the change in status, the Local Authority became responsible for the provision of the new buildings, and the Foundation's own funds were available to provide additional amenities of an educational nature. A new school building in Parkstone Road was opened on 28 October 1964