The school first opened in 1926 as Plaistow Secondary School on the site in the south of the borough, and was designed to cater for 250 pupils A second quadrangle was completed in 1930 increasing the capacity to 600, reaching a similar enrolment to that of West Ham Secondary School, its counterpart in the north of the borough. In 1930 the school magazine The Plaistovian was launched and publication continued until the school was merged in 1972. Among the initial editorial staff was pupil Norman Price who later became Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue and obtain a knighthood. Before and during the second world war, pupils and staff were evacuated at various times to Wellington in Somerset, then to Weymouth in Dorset, South Molton in Devon, Helston and Newquay, both in Cornwall. The school became Plaistow Grammar School in September 1945 as a result of the Education Act of 1944, and subsequently Plaistow County Grammar School. In 1972, following the 1965 changes in educational infrastructure proposed by the Ministry of Education, the school was merged with Faraday Secondary Modern School to become Cumberland Comprehensive School. The name Cumberland Comprehensive was taken from Cumberland Road, which ran past Faraday Secondary Modern and past the Cumberland Road Playing Fields which abutted the grammar school and were routinely used by it for physical education. The Latin motto of the original secondary school was Non Quo, Sed Quomodo. Dr Harold Priestley's book "Plaistow Sec: The Story of a School" credits this to Miss M "Maggie" Lamb, MA, an English teacher who joined the school in 1927 and who translated it as "Not to what end, but how", in other words the end does not justify the means or "It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it". In the 1950s the motto of the County Borough of West Ham, Deo Confidimus, was adopted. After West Ham joined with the County Borough of East Ham and small parts of Barking and Woolwich to form the London Borough of Newham in 1965, the school's motto remained. The school's badge was featured in the 16 July 1960 issue of the British comic The Rover.
Houses
Plaistow Secondary School and Plaistow Grammar operated a House system to create competition, rivalry and team spirit. Pupils were allocated to one of four Houses – Barking, Regent, Beckton and Cumberland. Each House had a distinctive colour worn for sports and during physical education.
The broad curriculum was focused on academic rather than vocational education, and included languages, sciences, art, and music subjects, culminating in RSA, CSE, GCEO-level and GCE A-level exams, while other certificates were also offered. Examination results became among the best in the borough, with many pupils gaining entrance to university.
Notable alumni
Paul Bach, journalist
Commander Nick Bracken, OBE, DL, Metropolitan police
