In September 1951 Copthorne opened with 204 pupils 120 boys and 84 girls - probably half were first years.
The initial imbalance between boys and girls did not last long. An inspector's report for June 1953 indicates the sexes were almost balanced (see figures below) and photographic evidence for the late fifties suggests that girls might even have been in a slight majority by then. However, by the early sixties there was once more a marked imbalance between boys and girls with the boys predominating three to two again. Only three females were apparently members of the fifth form by 1965. I can only assume the apparent decline in female numbers was due to the development of Coundon Court close by.
Here are school figures at the start of each school year I’ve so far obtained:-
Entry Total
1951 (September) 204 204
1952 (September) 128 327 (By June 1953 there were 324 pupils: 169 boys and 155 girls)
1953 (September) 136 427
1954 (September) 166 511
1955 (September) 176 576 (This was the first year the school had a fifth form)
1958 (September) 166
1959 (September) 131
1960 (September) 131
1961 (September) 101
...........................................................
1971 (September) 110
The School Inspector’s report of 1962 mentions that school numbers had peaked at 600 a few years which probably appertained between 1958 and 1960.
By January 1962 numbers had dropped to 486 (though perhaps between 20 to 40 had left the previous previous Christmas.) There were then 296 boys and 190 girls.
The school log notes that in Copthorne’s last year as a secondary modern its intake (110) was - “for the second year running... higher than for some years previous.” No doubt the forthcoming “amalgamation” with Kennedy had not a little to do with this increase in numbers but what had the intake numbers dropped to in the previous ten years? The remark suggests the number of pupils enrolling at the school had been declining prior to 1970 - quite a marked drop can be seen from 1960 to 1961 and it would seem this decline continued.
The school's games master in 1968, Mr. P. Guppy, lamented the fact that school declining numbers made it difficult for the school to form a competitive rugby team against other schools. In the previous year's school magazine (1967) Mr. Lamb stated that the 46 pupils who took part in the school's two drama productions in December and March represented "approximately one sixth of the school" - if this is accurate then the school roll was only somewhere around 300!
The 1967 edition of the magazine, however, provides another clue to school numbers which is at odds with this 300 figure - Hales House members apparently saved an average of 8d a week: their total savings being £3 2s 5d a week - this indicates Hales House had around 94 pupils. If the other houses had the same number of pupils then the total roll for the school would have been close to 400.
Another clue to school numbers is the school's staffing levels- in 1962 there were 27 members of staff whereas in 1968 there were only 19. Three of the 1962 members of staff, however, were part-timers so if all the members of staff in 1968 were full timers the actual teaching time the staff provided fell perhaps by only 20% which again suggests a school roll of around 400 - if however the decline in teaching hours was closer to 30% , as the raw figures suggest, this would indicate the school roll was nearer 350.
Though the numbers enrolled at the school in its last year as a secondary school was most likely to have been above 400 at the start of the academic year pupils could, of course, leave at Christmas and Easter so it seems likely there were less than 400 pupils attending Copthorne when it closed as a secondary modern.
As part of Kennedy School Copthorne had roughly 350 pupils - peaking at 370.
I estimate that as a secondary modern school Copthorne had around 3,000 pupils and as part of Kennedy 3,500 - a total of around 6,500 pupils. The majority of those pupils spent only a year at Copthorne, perhaps around 2600 spent three to four years and around 400 spent five years.
Paul Buttle, March, 2008.
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