ARBORFIELD CROSS, England -- When Susan Humphries was appointed head of the Coombes Infant School in Arborfield Cross, Surrey, an hour's drive from London, it was doubtless a satisfying moment in career terms. A school of her own at last. What she did not realize, and is likely to dismiss modestly today, was how far-reaching her educational example would prove. The wall at the entrance to the school, covered from ceiling to floor with environmental education awards, tells part of the story.

The year was 1972, the school was new, the location was semirural and the school building, which stood at the top of a slope, had a fine view over the rolling Surrey hills -- provided you ignored the sewage-treatment plant on the horizon. The new, custom-built buildings abutted a quiet road on one side, while on the other side of the playground was the junior school.

The new school had been built on compulsorily purchased agricultural land -- a sloping field that had been used for rotating crops of barley and other grains, sugar beet and kale. Every tree, shrub and bit of vegetation had been removed, including the hedge, which had been replaced by three vicious strands of barbed wire. Architecturally, the school boasted no distinguishing features and certainly no energy-conserving ones -- it was standard, local-authority style, with square classrooms joined side-by-side, stranded on an expanse of asphalt and with a newly turfed playing field in the back.