Sanders School

General information

Head's Welcome

A very warm welcome to the Sanders School official facebook page and thank you for your interest.
We hope this page will give you a flavour of our proud and vibrant learning community.

Academic excellence, self discipline and self confidence form the basis of our philosophy. We blend traditional values of hard work, excellent behaviour and respect for others, with a passionate commitment to provide a caring, supportive environment within which every student can feel secure, valued and achieve success.

High expectations combine with a varied, engaging and relevant curriculum to ensure our students realise their potential and become creative thinkers, independent learners and are fully equipped to meet the ever-changing demands and opportunities of a rapidly developing 21st Century.

Learning is placed at the heart of all we do, and at Sanders School we have the drive and ambition to ensure your child will maximise their potential and achieve across a wide range of opportunities within the classroom and beyond. Parents and carers are our close partners in this process and their ongoing support makes success all the more likely.

We are incredibly proud of our young people - they have tremendous gifts, talents and potential and my dedicated and experienced staff gain tremendous satisfaction and pleasure in supporting them achieve.

Visitors to our school invariably comment on the warm, caring and purposeful environment and we would be delighted for you to experience our school in action.

John McEachern
Head Teacher

Our Ethos and Values

At Sanders we are incredibly proud of our vibrant and successful learning community. We know that having a good education has never been so important. Our core role is to develop and support young people to become successful, academic, independent learners with excellent communication and employability skills.

To achieve this, we work in close partnership to ensure all students are
‘Learning Today… so they can be Leading Tomorrow’

This is reflected in our values and commitment to:

Provide an outstanding learning experience where diversity is celebrated and individual talents fulfilled.

Enable all community members to enjoy success and achievement, setting ambitious targets to inspire all.

Developing academic excellence, self-discipline and self-confidence within young people.

Blend the traditional values of hard work, excellent behaviour, respect, tolerance and pride.

A relentless drive, ambition and determination to improve further as a community.

Provide high quality opportunities for the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our students.

Place learning at the heart of all we do, so that every individual can:

Aspire… Achieve… Excel

A Brief History

When Suttons School was officially opened by Lady Simon on 2nd June 1938, it was unique in being situated only 530 yards from the perimeter of Hornchurch Aerodrome, soon to gain fame as a vital Sector Station in R.A.F. Fighter Command's elite No. 11 Group.

Built to accommodate 960 boys and girls in two entirely separate establishments. Locating the Boys' School at the southern end of the building was a major error since it overlooked the aerodrome, and teachers whose windows had panoramic views across the airfield swiftly discovered that ensuring the average schoolboy's mind upon his work instead of watching aircraft taking off and landing, was no easy task!

On Wednesday 24th March 1943 at 10.40am, a Spitfire of No. 64 Squadron piloted by an American volunteer serving with the R.A.F., Flying Officer Raimond Sanders Draper, developed engine trouble shortly after take-off. What actually happened will never be known for sure but those present believe that he intended passing to the left of the school in an attempt to land on the open ground beyond.

Realising that with reduced power he could possibly hit the school, he deliberately put the nose of the Spitfire down in the playing field, whereupon it bounced up onto the gravel drive and came to rest against the wall and windows of the two end classrooms. The noise was tremendous but mercifully the high octane fuel did not ignite and only one boy, Dick Barton aged 13, was injured.

An R.A.F. crash tender smashed its way clean through the wooden boundary fence but Sanders Draper was dead in his cockpit. The boys were assembled in the School Hall by Mr. Ward, the Deputy Headmaster, where he told them the sad news. After the dinner break, schooling resumed as normal.

The School formerly known as Suttons Senior School, was renamed Sanders Draper in 1973 and again in 2014 to Sanders School. The schools badge features a Spitfire in honour of his incredible courage.

The school building houses a mosaic depicting a Spitfire designed by the students, with each student at the school placing one tile each, was also created in his honour and to mark the name changing ceremony in 2014.