West Drayton: Schools

SCHOOLS.

At some time between 1723 and 1748 there was a church school at West Drayton, serving the parishes of Harmondsworth and West Drayton, (fn. 1) and several children of the schoolmaster, Richard Dyche, were baptized at St. Martin's between 1719 and 1726. (fn. 2) Nothing is known of the origins or the circumstances of this school. In 1827 the churchwardens rewarded certain men 'for assisting to get the schoolmaster out of the water', (fn. 3) but in 1842, when the curate applied for a National Society grant, there was no school at all in the parish, (fn. 4) and the teacher of 1827 may have belonged to a private school, or the Sunday school.

According to a return of 1818 the 'poorer classes' had 'sufficient means of education', but there was no educational endowment or other provision for teaching. (fn. 5) In 1833 6 boys and 14 girls attended two private schools, and there were two Sunday schools, one, belonging to St. Martin's church, attended by 12 boys and 40 girls, and the other, in connexion with the Baptist chapel, attended by 25 boys and 47 girls. (fn. 6) In 1842 the church Sunday school met in the body of the church, (fn. 7) but by 1846 a separate room had been acquired. The 79 children who attended on average were taught by three women teachers and a paid master, who received £2 10s. yearly. (fn. 8) The National day-school, in Station Road, was built in 1859. (fn. 9) It accommodated 160 children, (fn. 10) with a schoolhouse for the teachers. There were at first two teachers, a man and wife, and the average attendance in 1861 was 50 boys and 60 girls. A fee of 2d. a week was charged for the first child of a family, and 1d. for any other children attending. (fn. 11) By 1870 the school had secured a state grant for building and was receiving an annual grant. Attendance had risen to 198, of whom, however, 116 children were from Hillingdon parish. (fn. 12) St. Mary's Roman Catholic School, Money Lane, opened in 1868, provided accommodation for 100 children of both sexes. The children were taught by a mistress, in one room divided into two classes. (fn. 13) The local dissenters' children were accommodated in West Drayton British School, which was in Hillingdon parish. There was thus ample school accommodation for a population of less than 1,000, and the formation of a school board was successfully resisted.

The National school was reorganized in 1878 in two departments, one for 143 boys and girls, and the other for 54 infants, (fn. 14) and enlarged in 1893 to accommodate 250 children. (fn. 15) At the end of the 19th century it was supported by a voluntary rate agreed by a meeting of ratepayers at 6d. in the pound in 1892, and 4d. in 1901; (fn. 16) fees had been discontinued by 1899. (fn. 17) From 1892, however, several substantial ratepayers who were dissenters refused to pay this levy, and began to press for a school board. The church school also came under pressure in 1901 from the rural district council, and in 1902 from the Board of Education inspector, to improve sanitary arrangements and enlarge facilities: some classes were still being held in the church. In 1902 it was decided to discontinue the infants' department, (fn. 18) and a council school, also in Station Road, was consequently opened in 1905, (fn. 19) with accommodation for 150 infants. The average attendance in 1906-7 was 115. (fn. 20) The provision of places at the National school was reduced to 182 places. (fn. 21) The Roman Catholic school remained unaffected, with accommodation for 88 children, and an average attendance, during 1906-7, of 60. (fn. 22) Between 1927 and 1932 there was a further adjustment of responsibility between the county council and the National school, as a result of which the National school transferred its junior mixed department to the council school, and continued as a school for senior pupils only, and later as a Church of England secondary modern school, until it was closed in 1947. The council school was enlarged to accommodate 350 in junior mixed and infants' departments. (fn. 23) School provision only slowly adjusted itself to an expanding population.

A new Roman Catholic school was built in 1938, but in 1952 this was found to be inadequate, and the old schoolrooms were reopened to provide supplementary places; there was an average attendance o 235 in 1958. (fn. 24) For some years before 1939 the county council maintained a small elementary school for the children of canal workers, held in a barge provided by the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company and moored in the canal at West Drayton. (fn. 25) Cherry Lane council primary school was completed in 1940, but was used by the R.A.F. before being opened as a school in 1942. In 1958 this school had 203 infants and 423 juniors on the roll. Longmead county primary school, Laurel Lane, was opened in 1955, with accommodation for 560. In 1958 there were 241 infants and 289 juniors on the roll. St. Martin's Church of England Secondary Modern School, Kingston Lane, was opened in 1958, with accommodation for 300 boys and girls. (fn. 26)