History of Crosfields School

A relatively full account of the History of Crosfields can be found in this 40 page publication produced by Mr Boyd to mark the Golden Jubilee of the school in 2007.  The publication contains 59 images which span the 50 years and can be obtained from the school at a cost of ten pounds per copy.

A brief history of the School

Crosfields became an independent Preparatory School in 1957. However, its roots can be traced back to a school in Castle Street called Marlborough House, established in the first half of the 19^th Century. The school moved first onto the Bath Road and then, in the 1920’s, to Park House, a private house in five acres of grounds on Parkside Road. (It is now the YMCA.)

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Headmaster Mr. Makins, approached Leighton Park School with a view to them taking over Marlborough House and thus ensuring a continuity of education for the pupils. The boys moved into Townson House and became LP Junior School.

After the war, the Goodrest Estate was purchased by Leighton Park and the Junior School moved in in 1946. The name Crosfields was chosen at a boy’s suggestion in memory of Hugh Crosfield, an old boy and Governor of LP who had been killed in an air raid in 1944.

By the 1950’s, the number of pupils had increased to around 100, both day and boarding. A recommendation by the Schools’ Inspectorate that Crosfields should become entirely a day school was seriously considered and, in January 1957, the school became a non-profit making Trust with its own board of governors and, thus, independent, though with strong links to Leighton Park.

The original buildings – the White Building and the Stable Block – have been added to steadily over the last five decades as the number of pupils has risen.

Ian Boyd – Head of History

A relatively full account of the History of Crosfields can be found in this 40 page publication produced by Mr Boyd to mark the Golden Jubilee of the school in 2007.  The publication contains 59 images which span the 50 years and can be obtained from the school at a cost of ten pounds per copy.