Robert Clack School opened in 1955 and was named after the man who was Mayor of the Borough of Dagenham from 1940 to 1942. Alderman Robert Clack was rightly known as a fighter for social justice, someone who cared passionately about the people of Dagenham and worked tirelessly to secure better outcomes for them; his values and principles permeate the ethos of our school to this very day. 

Robert James Daniel Clack was born in 1901 in Bromley-by-Bow. He worked as a railwayman before becoming involved in local politics. From 1931 to 1934, he was an officer in the Bow branch of the National Union of Railwaymen and in 1933 he was President of the Dagenham Trades and Labour Council. The following year he was chairman of the Dagenham Ward Labour Party and was elected to Dagenham Council. Dagenham was then an Urban District Council but became a Borough Council in 1938. Robert lived with his wife and family on Moss Road, in Dagenham, and was appointed mayor of the borough in 1940. He was so popular that he was elected to a second term, until 1942. Robert died in 1953.