Village Schools 1810-2011

The Village Schools” was first published in 1983 and has been revised with recently available material and updated to 2011. (No2. Village Schools 1819-1984)

It commences with an explanation of the nationwide battle of a few to introduce a most elementary form of education for the masses and how the Church in Westbourne led the drive to establish a “National” school in part of the village Poor House in 1819.

The arrival of the Rev. Henry Garratt Newland accelerated matters and he is credited with the creation of the school for 160 pupils in School Lane. The building still exists having been converted to housing.

The slow movement towards free education for all is charted, causing the creation of a second school for girls and infants in Church Road. Again, the building still exists.

In 1902 the education world began to move more rapidly with responsibility passing to County Councils. Thus began the plan to replace the two elderly schools, half a mile apart, and the book details the planning and building of a new school on the present site in River Street. Then follows a comprehensive record of the development of that school right up to the present day.

THE VILLAGE SCHOOLS 1819-2011