Schools

On occasion, I am called to record a school that has closed recently or has been converted in the past (usually the 1960s). School buildings vary considerably in their origins. For example, part of a school in Stevenage was originally a maltings in the C17th and was then a drawing office for the Vincent motorcycle company in the 1950s. Today, it is part of the drama studios.

Education was formalised in the EC19th with the National Schools (founded in 1811) which received recognition funding in 1833. As a result, many National Schools were built -  divided into Boys and Girls classrooms where the schoolmaster and teachers often lived in the same building.

The 1870 Education Act stands as the very first piece of legislation to deal specifically with the provision of education in England and Wales. The 1876 Royal Commission on the Factory Acts recommended that education be made compulsory in order to stop child labour. In 1880, a further Education Act finally made school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten.

This state regularisation of schools meant that many new schools were built or created from converted buildings.

Brizes Park Bell House School, Kelvedon Hatch

Wakes Colne School

All Saints School, Maldon

Old Schoolhouse, Fairstead