History
Finchley Catholic Grammar School was founded in 1926 by the redoubtable Canon (later Monsignor Canon) Clement Henry Parsons (1892–1980), parish priest of St. Alban's Roman Catholic church, Nether Street, North Finchley. He founded the Challoner School (a fee-paying grammar school for boys who had not passed their 11+); as well as St. Alban's Catholic Preparatory School ("The Prep" - now absorbed into Woodside Park International School) as a feeder primary for the Grammar and Challoner schools. 1971 saw its two institutional forbears, Finchley Catholic Grammar School ("Finchley Grammar") and the Challoner School, merge to become Finchley Catholic High School).
The school started as a private initiative and parents were able to consider allowing their children to remain at school for longer. They were even willing and able to pay limited fees to the school. In a short time demand outgrew accommodation, the school had to extend. An appeal from the pulpit by Canon Parsons began the collection that by Christmas 1928 had produced enough money to purchase a building. Woodside Grange seemed an ideal site for the new school but it took the intervention of the Anglican Bishop of London to complete the purchase. The deal was finalized and the building taken over in September 1929. The changes in the education system led to the care of the house and grounds being split between the Governors, the Local Authority and the Archdiocese of Westminster. Each was charged with keeping one part of the house in good order. The school grew and the use of the house was restricted to the staff and A level pupils.
The decision to demolish the seriously deteriorated house was taken by two council workmen who, in 1972, when sent to repair the porch found that it was covered in valuable lead, and might require some skill to repair. By then the school had ceased to be a grammar school and become a comprehensive. A former pupil of the school saw the damage being done and wrote to the local and national newspapers, leading to a temporary preservation order being placed on the house. Reginald Maudling asked a parliamentary question on the matter. When asked about the removal of the building from the list of buildings of architectural merit, the Minister of the Environment, Anthony Crosland, replied that the member for Chipping Barnet had been misinformed. This was countered with a photocopy of the document being slapped onto the dispatch box and the government decided to put the building back on the list and listed Grade II.
Read more about this topic: Finchley Catholic High School
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