West Hatch High School

West Hatch High School is a secondary school located in Chigwell, Epping Forest, Essex (near Woodford Bridge). The area now occupied by West Hatch was previously the western gate (or hatch as it would have been known) into Hainault Forest; it is from these roots that the school derives its name. The school currently educates 1,300 students from the local catchment area, and nearly 200 sixth form pupils from north east London and west Essex. History The school was built in 1957 as a four-storied building with glazing on all sides on Chigwell High Road by Richard Sheppard & Partners with the Essex county architect, H. Conolly. The grounds have been renovated on numerous occasions developing the many-acre site into seven main teaching buildings. Facilities West Hatch has been under major renovations recently, including a Music Suite (2002), Maths Dining & Drama Block (1999), Ruby Theatre (2000 built by students attaining Gold The Duke of Edinburgh Award Status), Sixth Form Centre (2000), Business and Enterprise Block (2003) technology, Science block, Design and Technology block and the 4-storey classroom block. Renovation of the ICT infrastructure has enabled evening classes and Microsoft Digital Literacy training for parents using a parent portal. There is now currently a new sports hall and classroom block being built as an extension to the school.