5. The Rise of the Secondary Modern

After the Second World War, it took more than a decade for St Michael and All Angels School to be rebuilt as a secondary modern, part of the Butler Acts tripartite system which included grammar as well as technical schools.

Alan Johnson documents the school's reconstruction from bomb site to the brand new purpose-built school which was officially opened in 1956 by Princess Marie Louise, who signed a visitors' book for the occasion.

Series in which the former Education Secretary tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell, London.

Over the decades, it’s undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.

The story is told through original documents – from headmasters’ logs and inspection reports – and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there.

It’s as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.

Producer: Sara Parker
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2019.