Huyton Hill Preparatory School

Huyton Hill Preparatory School for boys was for 8 to 13 year olds to prepare them for entrance to a Public School.

The school is one of several that were evacuated from cities in England at the outbreak of World War II due to the risks from bombing. It also had a progressive and liberal approach to discipline.

The school at Huyton

The school was originally established in September 1926 with 4 pupils at Victoria Road in Huyton near to Liverpool, England. (Co-ordinates: 53.412218N, -2.833303E) It is listed in the Liverpool Schools directory together with the headmaster, Hubert D. Butler. (Note that the present school has its entrance on the south side of the site off Seel Road).

The school motto was “I will with a good will”, which set the tone for the ethos of the school and the way it was run.

It was the first school in the country to host its own aircraft landing strip as reported in Flight Magazine. Hubert Butler had previously served in the Flying Corps in World War I as 2nd Lieutenant Flying Officer.

Hubert D Butler became a member of the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) in November 1929, as listed in "Preparatory Schools Review", No. 104, Vol. X.

His name also appears in the "List of Members and Articles of Association", IAPS, January 1930, p. 5.

In the IAPS List of Members and Articles of Association, May 1951, p. 7., the names of both Butler brothers are listed and Gerald V Butler became a member in 1950.

The school in the Lake District

In September 1939 at the outbreak of World War II the school was moved to the Lake District where Pull Wood House, at the north west corner of Windermere just south of Pull Wyke, was rented to accommodate the school. After the war the headmaster, Hubert Butler, purchased the house and grounds and continued to run the school until 1969.

The joint headmasters were Hubert Desmeraux Butler and his brother Major Gerald Villers Butler who joined the school after leaving the army in 1949-50.

After the war the number of pupils averaged 60, but there were 74 pupils in 1965 which was near to the capacity of the accommodation and numbers reduced to 61 by 1967.

The pupils belonged to Alfred or Arthur houses which created a sense of healthy rivalry and competition amongst the pupils.

Brigadier Gordon H. Osmaston joined the school as the Mathematics teacher in 1948 after serving in the army in Iraq during World War II. Before that he distinguished himself by spending three years (1936–1938) surveying and mapping the Himalayas with sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

Forward-looking discipline

For the time the school discipline was very forward looking and used a system of points that triggered rewards or loss of privileges instead of traditional methods, and there was no corporal punishment by the mid 1960's.

The points system evolved over time; during the 1950s daily points were given or taken away depending upon behaviour. The boys could earn extra plus points in the holidays by getting their parents to sign for the fact that they had had a cold bath every morning of the holidays (giving one point per day) or by pulling willow weeds along the school drive, (giving one point per hundred willows). There was a Conduct List published to show the ranking of boys according to their point score (affectionately known as the 'Spite and Favour' list).

By the 1960s the system had changed so that each day every pupil was awarded 10 points which accumulated daily and a perfect score for the week was 70. Minor infringements could cause the loss of 1 or 2 points with a range of up to 10 points lost for major misbehaviour. Then at the end of the week the point scores were announced, with good conduct badges for those who lost no points and loss of privileges for those who lost too many points. Finishing the week with a minus score meant extra detention for studies.

Dormitories

The dormitories were all named after local mountains in the Lake District as follows:

First floor (junior): Dollywaggon, Catbells, Langdale, Helvellyn, Latterbarrow*.

Second floor (senior): Skiddaw, Loughrigg, Bowfell, Kirkstone, Wetherlam, Scafell.

* not always used as a dormitory, depending on school numbers.

School song

Huyton Hill school song printed for the Floodlight Review, June 1966

The school song was written by Hubert Butler with the help of pupils and set to the music Monk's Gate, which is best known as the hymn To be a Pilgrim by John Bunyan, 1684.

Often when tireless waves

Hurl them together

Into Tintagel's caves,

'Spite of the weather

Knights of the Table Round

On quests of Mercy bound

Sing to the thunder's sound

Laugh at the lightning.

Danes over wold and fen

Britain encumber;

Scarcely a thousand men

Alfred can number,

Yet shall the Wessex ground

To their proud tramp resound,

Drummed by the thunder's sound,

Lit by the lightning.

So here at Huyton Hill

We pledge the future;

We will with brave good will

Meet all adventure.

Where tasks do most confound,

There may we straight be found,

Though thunder echoes round

After the lightning.

School closure

Hubert Butler's message to the school, pupils and parents, May 1969

Major Gerald Butler died in 1967 and the school continued until 1969 when it was closed. Hubert Butler then converted the house into holiday flats. He died in 1971 whilst working for UNICEF in Swizerland and the ownership passed over to his son.

External links

• Liverpool Schools D-K
• Liverpool Schools Teachers
• Flight Magazine July 8th 1932
• Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS)
• Huyton Hill School