Haberdashers' Hatcham College
Haberdashers' Hatcham College (formerly Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College) is a state secondary school with academy status and a music specialism in New Cross, south-east London. The school was formerly a grammar school, then a comprehensive City Technology College and now an Academy operating between two sites near New Cross Gate. In 2005 the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers established the Haberdashers' Aske's Academies Federation, which includes HAHC. History After a bequest made by the merchant Robert Aske to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers on his death in 1689, a school and almshouses were built at Hoxton near the city of London. When, in 1874, the almshouses were closed, the educational capacity was enlarged and split into two parts, one north of the river and one south. The northern section established a boys' and girls' school in Hoxton, which eventually became Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School and Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, both now sited in Elstree, Hertfordshire. For the southern section, land was purchased at Hatcham, now better known as New Cross Gate, for the foundation of boys' and girls' schools on what is now known as Telegraph Hill. The north London school became generally known as "Haberdashers'", while the south London schools became generally known as "Aske's", though their official titles were parallel. Former pupils of the Hatcham schools are called "Old Askeans". Two schools were complete on the site now on Pepys Road by late 1875, and in 1889 the site now on Jerningham Road was purchased and the girls' school relocated to the new site. Under the Education Act 1944 the two schools became grammar schools, and in 1979 became comprehensive schools. A failing local primary school, Monson Road, was closed. The college and secondary school were joined together, giving all pupils preferential and automatic rights to attend secondary education. Initial optimism for this new school was short lived following a fire at the new Temple Grove school in 2010. There were no injuries, but the school was forced to move to the Hatcham College main site, with temporary buildings at the College being erected. The temporary buildings were estimated to last for up to three years. In January 2012, the then UK education secretary, Michael Gove, visited the school and gave a speech defending the government policy of converting local authority funded state schools into central government funded academies. In October 2012, a criminal investigation was launched into fraud allegations at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation academy trust chain. A 55 year old male member of staff was suspended while the a civil case was launched against him to recover the defrauded funds. In June 2014, Adrian Percival, the then CEO of Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust, wrote to parents asking "that nobody comments publicly on this situation." In July 2014, conservative MP, Edward Timpson, reported to Parliament that £2.16 million had been defrauded from The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust between the years 2010 to 2012. A statement from the federation said "It appears that the fraud was extremely sophisticated