Place Name
One of a small cluster of streets developed on the site of East Barnet Grammar School, later East Barnet Senior High School, hence named with an educational theme. Cambridge University may have been chosen due to the proximity of the main railway line between it and London. The original school, which was opened in 1937, was demolished in 2010. The school’s website says: “The premises had been built for 350, but by 1947 it was housing 547 students. Various additions of classrooms and labs were made between 1948 and 1958. Major building work between 1961 and 1965 added a new assembly hall, gym, music rooms, and dining halls. A new era started in September 1971 when East Barnet Grammar School became East Barnet Senior High School, a comprehensive school for students aged 14-18. In 1976 John Hampden School in Westbrook Crescent was combined with East Barnet School as an 11-18 co-educational comprehensive operating from two sites. By the 1980s the school was bulging at the seams and the tired old building was beginning to show its age. In the late 90’s, despite the limitations of the crumbling building the school’s excellent reputation continued to grow and such was its popularity with the community that the school was regularly over subscribed.” The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 after scholars left Oxford following a dispute, is the third-oldest university in continuous operation in the world. Granted a royal charter in 1231, it developed into a collegiate institution with 31 self-governing colleges, over 150 academic departments in six schools, and a teaching model centred on small-group supervisions.
