Long Stanton: Education

Education

There was a schoolmaster in All Saints in the first decade of the 17th century but none was recorded in either parish in 1662 or 1783. (fn. 1) By 1807 there were two schools with 26 pupils in All Saints, one mixed and the other for girls. (fn. 2) The first was supported mainly by the Hatton family and, as it was not recorded in 1833, probably closed after they ceased to reside in the village after 1812. The other was presumably a dame school, of which there were five with 56 pupils in 1833, three in 1836, and one surviving a decade later. The rector of St. Michael's began a Sunday school in 1819 which attracted some pupils from All Saints, and in 1836 his successor occasionally held a day school in winter for a few children. A parish schoolroom was said in 1837 to have been built at the expense of a former churchwarden, (fn. 3) but in 1843 a school was kept in the chancel of St. Michael's church. (fn. 4) The Sunday school continued in 1873 but appar ently closed shortly afterwards because there were very few children in the parish.

In 1843 part of the south aisle of All Saints' was used for a school, (fn. 5) which in 1844 moved to a new building perhaps paid for by Elizabeth Ann Hatton nearly opposite the church, built of brick and slate with a small turret at the entrance end. It had almost 60 pupils in 1873, (fn. 6) rising to 70 by the end of the century. With the decline in population, attendance fell to half that figure by the Second World War. (fn. 7) After 1946 the older pupils went to schools elsewhere but the growth of the village soon outpaced the accommodation available. New buildings, called Hatton Park School, were opened in 1954 on the site of the Hattons' manor house. (fn. 8) In 1975 there were 161 Army and R.A.F. children and 106 from the village. (fn. 9)