EDUCATION.
In 1807 there were no schools
in the parish, but in 1818, as in 1825, the vicar
supervised two schools supported by subscription. (fn. 91) It had c. 60 children, some from poor
families. By 1833 one of those schools had
closed, and the second had only 24 children. (fn. 92)
The creation of a National school in 1832,
endowed with £1,000 by the vicar, yielding then
and later £35 a year, provided schooling for c.
100 pupils c. 1833-47. Being a fellow of
Peterhouse, the vicar vested the freehold of the
school site in the college. (fn. 93) The school was
staffed in the mid 19th century by a schoolmaster and schoolmistress, with a house for the
master attached to the school. (fn. 94) Between 1851
and 1881 enrolment increased from c. 98 to
107. (fn. 95) In the late 19th century the school was
funded by voluntary contributions, government
grants, and its endowment paid through the
National Society, with a voluntary rate supplying any deficiency. (fn. 96)
In 1884, when the National Society asked for
greater prominence to be given to religious education, its proposals were modified upon the
insistence of the nonconformists on the managing
committee. Population growth made conditions
cramped, and in 1884 the school building and
playground were enlarged. The school was altered again in 1891 to accommodate 250 pupils. (fn. 97)
By 1895 the school roll had an average of 228
pupils, with a school income of £194. (fn. 98) Numbers
attending had fallen marginally by 1910, but
between 1919 and 1932 remained at 242. (fn. 99) In
1938 the school was reorganized as a junior and
infants school, with the seniors being transferred
to Coleridge School. (fn. 1) During the Second World
War the children were taught in the parish room,
as the school was taken over by the Air Raid
Protection Service. In 1945 a nursery class was
added to Cherry Hinton school, and in 1957 the
juniors were transferred to Colville school. In
1998 Cherry Hinton Infants School had 220 children aged 3 to 7, with 8 teachers. (fn. 2) The school,
which remained a church school, was rebuilt in
1937-8, and again in 1970. (fn. 3)
In new Cherry Hinton two schools were
opened at the turn of the 20th century. An
infants' school attached to St. John's church,
opened in 1897, was closed in 1903. (fn. 4) Its 50 pupils
were transferred to the Morley Memorial School
opened in 1900 on Blinco Grove as a nondenominational school to provide teaching practice for Homerton Teacher Training College. (fn. 5) In
1905 the school had on average 210 children, and
by 1919 that figure had risen to 296, one third of
whom were infants. (fn. 6) In 1912 responsibility for
its management was taken over by the borough
education committee. (fn. 7) Its buildings were altered
in the 1930s, and in 1938 the seniors were transferred to Coleridge School. In the 1940s the head
teacher left her house to the council for use by
the school. The house was pulled down in the
1960s for an extension, including a school hall.
In the 1960s the juniors' and infants' schools
were combined into a primary school.
Two schools established in 1952 on the north
side of Queen Edith's Way for infants and juniors
were amalgamated in 1989 into Queen Edith's
Primary and Junior School. (fn. 8) In 1998 it had 476
pupils and 15 teachers. In 1957 Colville School
was opened for juniors aged 7 to 11, but subsequently took infants as well. In 1978 Cherry
Hinton Junior School was founded, taking
infants who had formerly been sent to Colville
School, and in 1989 Spinney primary school was
established.
In 1938 Coleridge Boys School and Coleridge
Girls School were built at the north-east corner
of Radegund and Perne Roads. In 1966 they were
merged to form a mixed comprehensive school,
and in 1979 Coleridge was designated as a community college. It still occupies its original buildings of 1938, with an extension added in 1997.
The Netherhall School was created in 1974
through the amalgamation of the Grammar
School for Boys and the two Netherhall
Secondary Modern Schools, off Queen Edith's
Way. Until 1958 there were no schools on that
site, but the history of the Grammar School
began in 1871. It started as the Cambridge
Higher Grade School, at the initiative of Dr. W.
M. Campion and two other Cambridge academics. (fn. 9) Following the 1876 Act which forbade
child labour, numbers increased from 50 to 232,
but levelled off to c. 200-20 in the 1880s. In 1902
it passed under the control of the borough council, and in 1913 moved to new buildings in
Melbourne Place. It became the Central School
for Boys in 1919, the Technical Central School
in 1953, (fn. 10) and the Central Grammar School in
1956, when it was decided to move the school to
a larger site in Cherry Hinton. The new building
to the south of Queen Edith's Way, designed for
540 pupils on a 14 a.-site, was completed in 1958
and opened in 1959. In 1957 a Boys' and a Girls'
secondary school were opened off Tillards Way
north of Queen Edith's Way, for around 500
pupils each. They were run as separate schools,
but shared a dining hall and sports fields. In 1974
the three schools were combined into Netherhall
School and Sixth Form College, the lower school
occupying the site of the former secondary
schools, and the upper school and sixth form college occupying the former grammar school building. It had 55 a. (22 ha.) of playing fields. In 1988
15 a. (6 ha.) beside the Cherry Hinton Road was
sold off, with the funds paying for a new sixth
form common room and sports hall, completed
in 1989. In 2000 the school was one of the largest
in the county.