Northmoor: Education

EDUCATION.

In the earlier 17th century children were taught in the church. (fn. 1) There was no school from the earlier 18th century to the early 19th, and by 1808 a Sunday school held 'some time back' had also ceased. (fn. 2) An unendowed day school taught 8 boys and 6 girls in 1815. (fn. 3) Another school, established in 1829, was by 1831 housed in the incumbent's cottages north of the church, which were refitted as a schoolroom and mistress's house. It had 50 pupils in 1831 and 20-30 in 1854; it received pence and £5 a year from St. John's College, Oxford, but in 1854 was supported chiefly by the incumbent. In 1834 some children attended dame schools in Standlake. (fn. 4)

A National school was opened in 1873 in a new, stone-and-slated schoolroom on former glebe north-east of the incumbent's cottages, (fn. 5) which may have remained part of the school until 1891. (fn. 6) The register rose from 32 to 53 within a year, though in 1876 over half the pupils were from a short-lived orphanage in Northmoor where children had been trained for occupations. (fn. 7) A new room was added in 1902 to meet government requirements, (fn. 8) and in 1907 the register was 47. (fn. 9) Reports were often critical, and in 1890 E. W. Harcourt withheld his annual subscription; (fn. 10) the school was 'admirably conducted' in 1904 but in 1919 was acknowledged to have 'special difficulty', and pupils were often judged backward. It became an infant and junior school in 1929, when 11 children were transferred to Standlake school, leaving 28 at Northmoor. The roll was 38 (many of them evacuees) in 1940, 12 in 1945, and 35 in 1955, when the school was 'happy' and efficient; in 1957 it was forced to become a single-class school and several children were transferred elsewhere, but by 1971 the roll was 26. The school closed in 1981, when children and equipment were transferred to Standlake. (fn. 11)

A successful night school was noted in 1872. (fn. 12)