Sir Michael Caine would join the school in 1944 in King's Lynn, and had been evacuated to North Runcton in 1939.

The renowned nutritionist John Yudkin, who went to the school in the 1920s, gave a lecture in King's Lynn on 'Health in Wartime' on Friday 12 September 1941.

[4] The school was noted for educating Jewish Londoners, with alumni including Nobel prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, fellow playwright and actor Steven Berkoff, 1960s tycoon John Bloom and nutritionist John Yudkin.

Former high jumper and Board Director of London 2012 Olympics Bid Team Dalton Grant attended Hackney Downs School in the 1980s.

The site of the old school is now occupied by Mossbourne Community Academy, founded by Sir Clive Bourne, which opened in 2004.