Basildon's school history reaches back well before the creation of the New Town. The older villages of Laindon, Pitsea, Nevendon, Vange and the surrounding countryside had their own schools, but the enormous population growth after 1949 required education on a completely different scale. New primary and secondary schools were built alongside the expanding neighbourhoods, and many became important community landmarks in their own right.
Laindon High Road School was one of the area's principal schools before Basildon was designated a New Town. It opened in 1928 on the High Road and later provided secondary education for generations of Laindon pupils. Together with Craylands, it was one of the few local schools already teaching at secondary level when Basildon received New Town status in 1949.
The school survived the huge changes taking place around it as new estates were constructed and Laindon's population expanded. During the 1980s it became known as The Laindon School. In 1998 it closed as a separate school when it and Nicholas School were brought together to create The James Hornsby High School. The old Laindon buildings remained for a time but were eventually demolished in 2007.
The school later known as Craylands County Secondary had much earlier roots than most of Basildon's New Town secondary schools. The Timberlog Lane site opened on 9 September 1935 as separate senior schools for boys and girls under the name Nevendon Craylands Council Senior School. The two were merged in 1949 to form Craylands County Secondary.
Craylands served pupils from Nevendon, Pitsea, Vange and surrounding districts during a period when the local landscape was changing rapidly. In 1968, as Essex reorganised secondary education along comprehensive lines, Craylands closed as an independent school and merged with nearby Fryerns Grammar and Technical School. Its buildings then became Fryerns Lower School.
Fryerns was the first completely new secondary school created for Basildon New Town, opening in 1956 at Pattiswick Square. Its name came from the nearby historic Fryerns Farm, one of many examples of the planners preserving older local names within the new urban landscape.
It opened as a Grammar and Technical School under headmaster Cyril Baggs. This reflected the post-war system in which different types of secondary school provided different educational routes. Fryerns was followed by a rapid programme of secondary-school construction as Basildon's population increased.
In September 1968 Fryerns and Craylands were combined to form Fryerns Comprehensive School. The former Craylands buildings became the lower school while the newer Fryerns buildings served older pupils. The school was later renamed Fryerns Community School for the 1994–95 academic year.
Falling pupil numbers eventually led to closure on 31 August 1999. The school site was later redeveloped for housing, with the Beechwood development extending across former playing fields and school land. Demolition of the remaining school buildings began around 2011.