The Master of the Stationers’ Company Paul Wilson has cut the ribbon on the Leigh Stationers’ Academy, cementing the connection between the livery company and the south east London school that has previously been called Stationers’ Crown Woods Academy. With the rebranding the school is adopting the Stationers’ crest for its own.
The Stationers’ have been associated with the school for a decade with a number of stationers acting as school governors and others participating in school activities, helping with mentoring and providing opportunities to students that would otherwise be lacking.
Chair of governors and Stationers’ court assistant Prof Linda Drew says: “The early engagement of past master Ian Locks formed this very special relationship and now ten years on many Stationers have served on the board of governors to provide support and challenge to this thriving academic community. I am proud to lead the board’s relationship with staff and students at the academy and I am ably supported by a joint Stationers’ Company and community governor team.”
Along with the new name for the school itself, the five colleges that compromise the academy have been renamed as Angelou College (after author Maya Angelou); Caxton College (William Caxton); Hansard College (Luke Hansard); Woolf College (Virginia Woolf) and Equiano College (Olaudah Equianou, writer, one time slave and abolitionist).
The main building is known as the Crown as a nod to the proximity of Eltham Palace, childhood home of Henry VIII.
Academy principal Joseph Sparks praises the support for pupils shown the Stationers’: “I believe that by fostering strong relationships, we will ensure that Leigh Stationers’ Academy becomes a name synonymous with our values: leadership, scholarship and achievement.”
At the time the name change was announced at the start of the year, Sparks told parents: that the strong partnership with the Stationers’ Company. This brings additional investment into the school as well as extra opportunities for pupils and staff. We are very proud of our relationship with such a prestigious London livery company and wish to cement those links even further by making the name more prominent in our own branding.”
The Stationers’ Company has long had a strong association with education, starting its own school for those in the trade in the 19th century which subsequently moved from Fleet Street to Hornsey in north London and through mergers became a comprehensive and closed in the 1960s. A memorial window to fallen pupils remains as part of St Mary with St George church in Hornsey.
