Did you know... 

Prendergast Vale School was first established as Lewisham Bridge Primary School in 1854. The school was originally for girls and infants, with boys accommodated in the 1870s Board School further along Elmira Street (now demolished).

The school was renamed Prendergast Vale School in September 2011 when it became part of the Leathersellers' Federation of Schools and began accepting pupils of secondary school age.

The original building was rebuilt in 1914 according to new ideas about cross-ventilation and light, then current in educational and healthcare reform. It is this building that you see preserved on the site today. In 2011, the building was registered as a Grade II Listed Building due to its special historical interest. While extensions were added in the 1970s and new buildings built in 2011, the main school building retains many of its original Edwardian features including a cloakroom with numbered pegs, a school bell, tiled corridors, parquet flooring and boot scrapes set into the walls.

The picture you see here was taken in 1897; it was found in one of our archive rooms over the summer break and features some of the pupils of Lewisham Bridge Primary posing for a class photo with their teachers.