HORSA is the acronym for the 'Hutting Operation for the Raising of the School-Leaving Age', a programme of hut-building in schools introduced by the UK Government to support the expansion of education under the Education Act 1944 to raise the compulsory education age by a year to age 15.
Government plans to increase the school leaving age resulted in the need to accommodate 168,000 additional pupils. [1] Along with the need to replace buildings lost and damaged in World War II and the post-war baby boom, this contributed to massive demand for low cost prefabricated 'hut'-style classrooms and other school buildings. 7,000 new classrooms and 928 new primary schools were built in 1945-50. [2] [3]
The programme was the responsibility of George Tomlinson, the Minister of Education in the post-war Clement Attlee government. There is some evidence the programme struggled to cope with demand. [4] However, the scheme progressed and was regarded as complete by 1950. [5]
HORSA huts were constructed of concrete and timber with corrugated asbestos-filled roofs, arrived onsite as flat pack deliveries and once assembled they resembled the spartan buildings used in army camps in the war. [6] Although intended as temporary accommodation with an expected lifespan of only ten years, [7] 'Horsa huts' were often used well beyond this and some still survived as of 2012 [update] . [8] Although now often in poor physical condition and regarded as having little architectural merit, demolition of those built before 1 July 1948 requires listed building consent if they fall within the curtilage of a listed building. [9]
A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British engineer and inventor Major Peter Norman Nissen. It was used also extensively during the Second World War and was adapted as the similar Quonset hut in the United States.
The Education Act 1944 made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Historians consider it a "triumph for progressive reform," and it became a core element of the post-war consensus supported by all major parties. The Act was repealed in steps with the last parts repealed in 1996.
Bournemouth School is an 11–18 boys grammar school, with a co-educational sixth form, located in Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England, for children aged 11 to 18. The school was founded by E. Fenwick and opened on 22 January 1901, admitting 54 boys.
Balwearie High School is a non-denominational comprehensive secondary school at the west end of Kirkcaldy in Scotland. Balwearie serves around 1600 pupils aged from 11 to 18 and includes a Department of Additional Support for children with Additional Support Needs.
Itchen Sixth Form College is a mixed sixth form college in Bitterne, Southampton, Hampshire, England. It was established in 1906 and was originally a mixed secondary school, it later became Itchen Grammar School under the reforms of the Butler Education Act. It became its present state following further reform in the 1980s.
A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, clay, hides, fabric, or mud using techniques passed down through the generations.
A portable classroom, is a type of portable building installed at a school to temporarily and quickly provide additional classroom space where there is a shortage of capacity. They are designed so they may be removed once the capacity situation abates, whether by a permanent addition to the school, another school being opened in the area, or a reduction in student population. Such buildings would be installed much like a mobile home, with utilities often being attached to a main building to provide light and heat for the room. Portable classrooms may also be used if permanent classrooms are uninhabitable, such as after a fire or during a major refurbishment.
John Hampden Grammar School is a selective state boys' grammar school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is named after the local member of parliament and English Civil War commander John Hampden. In June 2011, the school became an Academy.
A portable, demountable or transportable building is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located.
The raising of school leaving age is the term used by the United Kingdom government for changes of the age at which a person is allowed to leave its compulsory education phase in England and Wales as specified under an Education Act.
Southend High School for Boys, also known by its initialism SHSB, is an 11–18 boys selective secondary grammar school situated along Prittlewell Chase in Prittlewell, in the north-west of Southend-on-Sea, England. It teaches students from the age of 11 through to 18 years old, and admission to the school is dependent upon their performance in selective 11+ tests set by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE). It converted to Academy status on 1 February 2011, and has autonomous control over itself. Student numbers have been increasing over recent years, and, as of academic year 2023–2024, just over 1,300 students on roll, with over 420 of them in the co–educational Sixth Form.
Sir Harry Smith Community College is a secondary school in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. Opened in 1953 on the former site of the Whittlesey Workhouse, the College is named after 19th Century English Army General Sir Harry Smith who was born in Whittlesey, and whose grave is situated in the cemetery adjacent to the school. The college, originally known simply as the Sir Harry Smith School, specialises in science and mathematics.
Perth Grammar School is a secondary school in Perth, Scotland. It is located in the Muirton district of Perth at the junction of Bute Drive and Gowans Terrace. The catchment serves the area to the north of Perth between Murthly and Methven while a part of its catchment is urban, serving Tulloch, Muirton and North Muirton.
This article gives brief information on schools that cater for pupils up to the age of 11 in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire, England. Most are county maintained primary schools, sometimes known as "junior mixed infant" (JMI). A small number are voluntary aided church schools or independent (fee-paying). The Local Education Authority is Hertfordshire County Council.
Hull College is a Further Education and Higher Education establishment based in Kingston upon Hull, England.
Horsa is an Anglo-Saxon leader in British legend.
Prefabs were a major part of the delivery plan to address the United Kingdom's post–World War II housing shortage. They were envisaged by war-time prime minister Winston Churchill in March 1944, and legally outlined in the Housing Act 1944.
St George's Academy is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school based in the English market town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, with a satellite school at nearby Ruskington.
Light Timber Construction was the name given to a standardised architectural design used for the construction of hundreds of state school buildings in Victoria, Australia, between 1954 and 1977. LTC school buildings were designed for speed of construction, uniform appearance and low cost. In the 2000s with growing enrolments especially in Melbourne many LTC school buildings were either being demolished and replaced, or refurbished, and so intact original examples are becoming rare.
F. Pratten and Co Ltd, commonly known as Prattens, was a business located in Midsomer Norton that manufactured prefabricated buildings. Production included portable classrooms that were widely used after World War II.