Part 2 tells the story of the school that grew from five classrooms into one of Laindon's most important twentieth-century educational sites.
Laindon's population grew rapidly after the First World War as more families settled on the plotland estates. Existing schools became overcrowded and some local children could not obtain regular places. Essex education authorities therefore planned a new school on the High Road.
Laindon High Road School opened on 7 May 1928. The original building had five classrooms, staff rooms and cloakrooms and admitted children from five to fourteen years old.
Demand was immediate. Laindon's population was increasing so quickly that the school soon needed additional accommodation.
Within only a few years the school roll had risen dramatically. By the early 1930s the High Road school was educating more than a thousand children, creating pressure on classrooms and staff.
In February 1933 the High Road was reorganised as a senior school. At the start of the new arrangement it had 547 pupils, 15 teachers and a headmaster. Younger pupils were transferred to other local schools, including the newly opened Markhams Chase School.
The first headmaster, G. L. Radford, became strongly associated with the High Road school and remained until his retirement in 1949. His name was later preserved in the name of the housing development built on the former school site.
The war created major disruption. Male teachers left for military service, staff numbers fell and pupils spent many hours in air-raid shelters during warnings. At one stage local histories record only ten teachers dealing with more than 700 pupils.
After the war the school became Laindon Secondary Modern School. The High Road name remained in everyday local use even as the official school name changed.
An outdoor swimming pool opened in April 1960. It remained open-air for many years before receiving a roof in 1972. The pool became one of the most remembered facilities associated with the school.
During the 1980s the school became known officially as The Laindon School. By then, however, falling pupil numbers across Basildon were beginning to affect the long-term future of both Laindon and Nicholas secondary schools.
Essex County Council eventually approved the amalgamation of The Laindon School and Nicholas School. Both old school identities ended in 1998, when the new James Hornsby High School was created.
The new James Hornsby school initially operated from the former Laindon School buildings while the Nicholas site at Leinster Road was refurbished. The final day of education at the High Road site was 7 July 2000, ending more than 72 years of continuous school use there.
Parts of the former school remained temporarily in use for nursery and after-school purposes. Demolition began in May 2007, and housing was built on the site under the name Radford Park, preserving the surname of the school's first headmaster.