Potton Schools

Former St Mary's Schoolroom

Early Education

The history of education in Potton is quite confusing, particularly the early history, given that we only have snapshots from various dates rather than survival of all the necessary records. One of the earliest references we have to education at Potton comes in a will of 1530 [ABP/R3 f.12] where the testator leaves cattle to trustees to pay for his grandson's education "my executors shall find my son's son to scoll at Potton by the space of two years with such cattle.

When Dame Constance Burgoyne died in 1711, she left money as a charity called Burgoyne’s Charity for Education, for teaching poor children in Potton to read and write. Some of it was combined with other money left for the same purpose, so that 21 poor boys and girls in Potton were sent to school to learn reading. There were three school mistresses who had 7 pupils each. Any money left over went towards a Sunday school. Another leaving money for education was Alexander Atkins who, in his will of 1712 [LS48] left £30 "to put poor boys to learn to read & so soon as they learn for them to go away & others some in their room". Strangely, when the Bishop of Lincoln made a visitation to Bedfordshire in 1720 returns were demanded of all the clergy and one of the questions concerned education for the poor and the Vicar of Potton declared that there was none in the parish. In 1739 Henry Ward, a fellmonger in Potton, left £60 to the minister of Potton to use the interest to teach poor children [LS103 and P64/25/1a]. Two other people leaving small sums towards education in Potton were Mary Tottman in 1727 and William Hankin in 1782.

 A man called James Andrew also left money for a school in 1770 arising from a fen called Farther Bluntsmeer at Over in Cambridgeshire. John Whittred, who owned another part of the fen then also conveyed his portion to the trustees for education in Potton [CD401, later records P64/25/12-17]. The land was to be rented out and each Easter £6 taken from the proceeds and applied to the maintenance of a schoolmaster "of sufficient capacity to teach as many Potton children reading, writing & arithmetic as the trustees think fit". The school was to have a schoolmaster who would live in Potton and attend the parish church. The children must be over 8 years old, and not stay at the school for more than 3 years. The trustees chose Nicholas Sparkes at schoolmaster, who died in the Great Fire in 1783.

In 1818 a national survey on elementary education was carried out. The return for Potton is slightly puzzling given the information above. It listed a boy's school for eight, with the master paid £20 per annum and three girls' schools each with seven pupils for which the mistresses were each paid £2/11/-. This sounds rather as if Dame Burgoyne's money was paying for the three girls' schools (originally three schools of seven but for both boys and girls) and Alexander Atkins' money was paying for the boys' school; the return noted another school contained 35 children of both sexes, presumably this was maintained by the land at Over conveyed by Whittred and by Andrew's trustees. The bequests by Tottman, Ward and Hankin were presumably used to help support one or more of these five schools. The Vicar noted "The poor are without sufficient means of education; but the vicar is of opinion that if the charities were condensed and applied towards the establishment and support of a public school, it would be of essential service to this parish and the adjoining villages". The five schools between them catered for 64 children, but the population of Potton alone is recorded as 1,154.

About 1830 another member of the Burgoyne family, Thomas John, left an orchard at Bassingbourne [Cambridgeshire] to be leased and the profits used for education at Potton [P64/25/1b, for deeds to the land see P64/25/39-50]. Another national survey of education was undertaken in 1833, this time the return for Potton stated that ten daily schools existed! In total they catered for 70 boys and 109 girls "one is partly supported by an endowment arising from charity lands [it is unclear whether this is the Over or Bassingbourne land or, indeed both], for which 10 males receive instruction, and three by small endowments, amounting to 50s. annually, for which 18 children are instructed [presumably Dame Burgoyne's girls' schools]; the rest by payment from the parents. In addition a further two daily and boarding schools were listed one containing 26 females, the other (which began in 1823) 36 males. Finally there were two Sunday Schools for 110 males and 105 females who were taught for free; these would have been as their name suggests, schools which met on a Sunday, teaching such things as writings as well as religious education and thus very different from Sunday Schools as understood today. The Sunday School room now serves as the church hall and was built in 1848.

The national Church School Inquiry of 1846/7 recorded that a single Sunday School catered for 50 boys and 50 girls and one church daily school for 40 girls. It was noted that the schools were maintained by the clergyman, a schoolroom was needed for which £100 had been collected. Whatever the school, it had problems getting children to attend. In most of the county the problems were to do with agriculture or, for girls, straw plaiting or lace making. In Potton a peculiar local problem was coprolites - fossilised faeces ground down with sulphuric acid and used as fertiliser, a report of 1867/8 noted: "There is…much employment for the young of both sexes of the agricultural labouring class in the coprolite works…The digging work is done by men and grown lads; boys are employed in wheeling barrows, and children of both sexes in sorting the fossils in the mills. wages are high, boys can earn 8s and 9s a week, and a girl of 10 years of age 7s a week by day work, but more by the piece…The state of education of these children is very low…On inquiring in the neighbourhood…I could not learn that any steps had been taken by the inspectors of the factories to bring the provisions of the Workshops Act to bear on this industry…"

A national school was recorded in Potton in a directory of 1853 and one of 1869, as was the endowed school for boys (presumably that begun by Adkins' legacy) but as part of the 1870 Education Act a return by each parish was required and that for Potton declared that the town had no efficient school and accommodation was required for 210 boys and girls and 140 infants! The endowed school is noted in a directory of 1877 but the the next directory in the possession of Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service, 1885, is noted as having been abolished.

Potton Board Mixed School (1875-1903).In answer to the desperate need for education a School Board was formed for Potton in February 1875. This board, elected by the ratepayers, was responsible for providing and running a school. The Board was dominated by nonconformists; it opened a Board School in Chapel Street in 1876 which, in 1885 split into two separate Board schools, one for boys and one for girls.

 Potton Board Boys School and Girls School (1903-1904).  Created in 1885 these two schools lasted until 1903 when, following the Education Act of 1902, School Boards were abolished and the running of education in the county given to Bedfordshire County Council as Local Education Authority. The Potton School Board, content in their way of running the schools along nonconformist lines protested strongly at this turn of events. Nevertheless in 1903 the schools became Boys Council and Girls Council schools.

Potton Infants School (1876-1925)This school was created in 1876; it became a Council Infants School in 1903. Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a scrapbook of reports by the Schools Inspector for most schools in the county for a period just before the First World War through the inter-war years [E/IN1/1]. In 1911 the Inspector reckoned that results were as good as could be expected in the circumstances: "Owing to inadequate floor-space free movements cannot be indulged in and the physical needs of the children do not receive proper attention. In both rooms useless galleries take up much needed floor-space, there is no effective separation of the classes in the main room, and some of the desks used by the First Class are unsuitable, the children being compelled to adopt unhygienic postures when using them. The brightness and life which should characterise a good Infants' School are, perforce, absent and despite the good intentions and hard work of the Teachers there is much left to be desired which the Local Education Authority alone can render possible by providing more suitable and adequate accommodation". There was then a break in inspections, caused largely by the First World War, the next being in 1922 when the school was "going on well". On 1 May 1925 the infants merged with the girls from Potton Council Mixed School to form Potton Council Girls & Infants School.

Potton Council Mixed School (1904-1925) In 1904 the Boys and Girls Council Schools were amalgamated into a single school. Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a scrapbook of reports by the Schools Inspector for most schools in the county for a period just before the First World War through the inter-war years [E/IN1/1]. the report for 1912 noted that the school: "…had been visited several times since it was last reported upon, and on every occasion it was found in a thoroughly satisfactory condition. The organisation is skilful, the methods are good, and in all the classes the teachers work conscientiously and well, and the children make good progress". The school was not visited again until the winter of 1922/3 when it was found that the school has undergone a number of changes in the previous few years and, at times, a shortage of staff, causing the work to suffer, but the school was now more settled and it was hoped would progress well. The settled conditions did not last long, however, as, on 1 May 1925 the school was split into a separate boys school and girls and infants school.

 Potton Council Boys School (1925-1931) This was created on 1 May 1925 by splitting out the girls from the former mixed school and combining them with the children from the former Potton Infants School. The School Inspector in 1928 [E/IN1/1] reported that the present Headmaster has been in place since reorganisation and had introduced "a new spirit, quickened the life of the school and laid the foundations of a new tradition. Organisation and supervision are efficiently carried out and the teaching is effective…The boys show keen interest in their studies, they are responsive in oral lessons, and they work assiduously in private study. Tone is good, and the future of the school under its present direction appears very promising". It was not long before the school was again reorganised, becoming Potton Senior Mixed School on 1 Apr 1931.

Potton Council Girls & Infants School (1925-1931) This was created on 1 May 1925 by splitting out the girls from the former mixed school and combining them with the children from the former Potton Infants School. On 1 Apr 1931 the girls were reunited with the boys at Potton Senior Mixed School and the infants had some of the younger boys and girls added to form a new Potton Council Junior School.

Potton Council Junior School (1931-1946) This school was created by adding girls and boys of slightly older years to the existing infants department of the former Potton Council Girls & infants School on 1 Apr 1931. The School Inspector visited in 1937 [E/IN1/1] and reported that there were 193 children in six classes, four under one roof and two in parts of the Senior School. The school was well organised: "Teachers and children appear happy and interested in their work and satisfactory results are obtained…the children are well behaved; the older ones take responsibility for a number of small duties and perform them with quiet efficiency". The school was again reorganised in 1946, following the 1944 Education Act, when it became a County Primary School for children aged 5 to 11.

Potton Council Senior School (1931-1946) This school was formed by uniting the boys and girls from the two formerly separate schools on 1 Apr 1931. It was visited by the Schools Inspector in 1937 [E/IN1/1] who reported that there had been many changes of staff in the previous four years which had prevented any settled progress: "Apart from this it is not an easy school to manage, as the premises are awkward and rather noisy, the playground small and of a bad shape, and the Practical rooms and garden do not immediately adjoin the school premises. At this visit, however, a very hopeful impression was gained". Following the 1944 Education Act the school became a County Secondary Modern School.

Potton County Primary School (1946-1975) This school, for children aged from 5 to 11 was in existence from 1946 until comprehensive reorganisation of Bedfordshire schools in the 1970s when it became a Lower School. 

Potton County Secondary Modern School (1946-1955) This school was the reorganised Potton Council Senior School. It closed in 1955 and the pupils were transferred to Sandye Place County Secondary School in Sandy.

Potton Lower School (since 1975) This school was formed in the 1970s, following comprehensive reorganisation, from the former Potton CP School, it is for children aged 5 to 9. It is a modern building in Everton Road.

Burgoyne Middle School (since 1975) This school, in Mill Lane, was created on comprehensive reorganisation and caters for children aged 9 to 13 years.

Private Education

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has evidence for two private schools in Potton, neither mentioned in directories of the time. One was Potton House School for which records exist between 1861 (in an account book of Potton Congregational Church, which contains an "in memoriam" to John Clayton, the principal of the academy in that year [Z771/9/1 p.3]) through 1869 (a photocopy of a print of the school included in a programme for a flower show [CRT130SANDY9]and 1876 (a photograph of the school in an advertisement [X758/1/10]. The other private school was a Pestalozzian School, in other words adhering to the principles of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827), a Swiss pedagogue who believed in a very ordered way of always moving from easy to more difficult things in, for example, the way young children moved from looking at things to thinking about them to then learning how to speak and to describe them. The only record of this school in Potton is of a child's copy book of 1854.

Sources

Early Education
- ABP/R3 fol.12: will detailing grandson's education: 1530;
- LS48: bequest for education: 1712;
- LS103: bequest for education: 1739;
- P64/25/1a: details of Henry ward's gift for teaching children: 1739;
- P64/25/1a: gift towards establishing a charity school: 1770;
- CD401: Burgoyne School: 1770;
- P64/25/39-50: deeds, correspondence etc. regarding Bassingbourne Orchard used to raise money for Potton education: 1811-1939;
- P64/25/12-17: receipts for rent of estate at Over used to raise money for Potton education: 1817-1839;
- P64/25/1b: gift by T.J.Burgoyne for educating children: c.1830;

General
- X481/10: additional public school accommodation required: 1872-1876;
- X481/11: notice of election to Potton School Board: 1875;
- SB33: Potton School Board material: 1876-1903;
- P64/29/1: grant of glebeland as site for school: 1882
- Z346/22 and X704/248: printed letter of thanks to retiring School Board chairman: 1902;
- SMM15: Potton schools group managers' minutes: 1903-1974;

Pestalozzian School
- CRT130POTTON7: child's copy book: 1854

Boys' Board School
- SDPotton1: school logbook: 1876-1904

Girls' Board School
- SDPotton2: school logbook: 1885-1904

Mixed Board School
- SDPotton1: school logbook: 1876-1904

Board Infants'/Council Infants'/Council Girls & Infants'/Council Junior Mixed & Infants/County Primary/Lower School
-SDPotton4: school lgbook: 1876-1922;
- Z50/91/59: photograph of school: early C20th;
- Z48/134-137: photocopies of pupils' photographs: early C20th;
- E/TE5/1-2: details of teachers: 1904-1912;
- X758/1/9/55-67: photographs, mostly of school groups: c.1905-1923;
- E/IN1/1: inspector's reports: 1911-1937;
- SDPotton9-10: school logbooks: 1922-1967;
- CA2/691: additional land for school: 1965-1970;
- CA8/443: building maintenance file: 1967-1978;
- AO/C9/7: lower school site file: 1969-1970;
- CA2/468: extensions to building etc.: 1970-1973;
- CA2/367: extensions to building etc.: 1971-1978;
- CA2/469: Phase II development: 1972-1974;
- E/YM7/9/10: application by 1st Potton Brownie Pack and Potton Guides to use school premises: 1973-1983;
- E/TE2/2/L60-61: details of school: 1978-1986;
- E/TE3/4: return of teaching staff: 1981;
- E/PM3/2/4: information on travellers' children at school: 1982-1987;
- E/SA2/4/11: file on ptovision of adventure playground and environmental studies garden: 1985-1987;
- E/TE3/7: return of teaching staff: 1986;
- E/MS3/2/3: kitchen and other details: c.1987;
- E/ME2/2/1: school involvement in work of professional development tutor for multicultural education in predominantly white schools: 1988-1989;
- E/Pu4/4/96: prospectus: 1995

Council Mixed/Council Boys'/Council Senior Mixed/County Secondary Modern School
- Z50/91/59: photograph: early C20th;
- Z48/134-137: photocopies of photographs of children: C20th;
- SDPotton3: school logbook: 1904-1925;
- E/TE5/1-2: details of teachers: 1904-1912;
- X758/1/9/55-67: photographs, mostly of school groups: c.1905-1923;
- E/IN1/1: inspector's reports: 1912-1937;
- SDPotton5-6: school logbooks: 1925-1955

Burgoyne Middle School
- CA2/846: construction of school: 1970-1981;
- E/SA1/4/8: file on comprehensive reorganisation: 1972-1979;
- CA8/1039: building maintenance file: 1979-1984;
- E/TE3/2: return of teaching staff: 1981;
- E/PM3/2/4: information on travellers' children at school: 1982-1987;
- E/PM6/2/4: school support for abolition of corporal punishment: 1985-1986;
- E/SA2/4/11: file on provision of wildlife area at school: 1985-1987;
- E/TE3/7: return of teaching staff: 1986;
- E/MS3/2/2: kitchen and other details: c.1987;
- E/ME2/2/1: school involvement in work of professional development tutor for multicultural education in predominantly white schools: 1988-1989

Potton House Academy
- Z771/9/1 p.3: account book for Potton Congregational Church mentions death of principal: 1861;
- CRT130SANDY9: photocopy print of school: 1869;
- X758/1/10/76: photograph of advertisement for school: 1876