Drawdown Time

From the 1960s onwards, the requirement for schools to be maintained by the Ministry of Defence and its agencies has progressively diminished.  Schools in Aden, Malaya and Singapore closed in the 1960s.  The Royal Navy withdrew from Malta in 1979.  Schools in Hong Kong all closed by 1997, when the UK's lease on the colony and territories ran out.  Changes in NATO command structures and commitments led to closures in Sardinia, Norway and Denmark.  The liberation of the Falkland Islands in 1982, resulted in the later establishment of Mount Pleasant School.  

The opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany which followed meant that the rational for large numbers of British Forces being maintained in Germany was re-examined.  In the following years, many former Warsaw Pact countries became NATO allies.  A long and gradual reduction of troop numbers and bases followed.  

The abandoned SCS(NWE) school in Lemgo

Osnabruck closed in 2006 and JHQ/Rheindahlen in 2013.  British Forces Germany's final garrison (Paderborn, Bielefeld, Gutersloh) closed in 2019.  However, two MoD primary schools remain in Germany in 2021:  Attenborough School serves families based on Normandy Barracks and Sennelager Ranges, while St David's serves the UK military community stationed at USAF Ramstein.