Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1919 Walthamstow Urban District Council had taken on the former convalescent military hospital at Brookfield House, Hale End.  In 1923 this became the Brookfield Orthopaedic Hospital and School for Crippled Children.

In 1936 the residential Hospital School moved to new premises at Wingfield House, an old mansion in Hale End Road, about one kilometre to the south.  It was then known as Hale End Open Air School.

In October 1940, during WW2, the nearby Shernell Street Special School (for epileptics and mental defectives) was bombed, and moved into two classrooms at the Open Air School.

In 1957 the Open Air School was renamed Wingfield House School.  By 1959 the open air treatments had been much diluted; no longer were the classrooms kept open on three sides - and heating was provided in winter.

In 1964 the School moved again, returning to the original Brookfield location.  It was renamed Brookfield House School.


Present status (August 2013)

Following the departure of the Open Air School, Wingfield House became for a time the Frederick Brener Secondary School.  In 1972 Whitefield School (the successor to the Shernell Street Special School) arrived.

The original mansion was demolished and replaced by the Whitefield Schools and Centre, a Foundation Special School with 300 places for children with special educational needs.  It has its entrance in Macdonald Road.