West Hatch High School


West Hatch High School is a secondary school located in Chigwell, Epping Forest, Essex. The area, now currently occupied by West Hatch, was previously the western gate into Hainault Forest; it is from these roots that the school derives its name. The school currently educates 1,300 students from the local catchment area, and nearly 200 sixth-form pupils from northeast London and west Essex.
WWW westhatch.essex.sch.uk

History

The school was built in 1957 as a four-storied building with glazing on all sides on Chigwell High Road by Richard Sheppard & Partners with the Essex county architect, H. Conolly.
The school was awarded 'business and enterprise specialist school' status in 2002.

Facilities

The grounds have been renovated on numerous occasions, developing the many-acre site into seven main teaching buildings. West Hatch has undergone major renovations, including a Maths Dining & Drama Block, Ruby Theatre, Sixth Form Centre, Music Suite, Business and Enterprise Block, Science block, Design and Technology block and the 4-storey classroom block, which has overall resulted in it being a more modernised and well-equipped school.
Renovation of the ICT infrastructure has enabled evening classes and Microsoft Digital Literacy training for parents using a parent portal. A new swimming pool, replacing one that was fifty years old, was opened in 2010, named the Race Pool after a former teacher. A sports hall and classroom block were built as an extension to the school and opened in 2021. One of the buildings was named Howarth Hall, after Frances Howarth who was headteacher of West Hatch for over 18 years. Howarth returned to the school to inaugurate the building.

Notable former pupils