EDUCATION.
In 1790 the master of the workhouse was made responsible for teaching paupers'
children; £80 was borrowed from the funds of the
Sunday school and, by 1798, a schoolroom was
built in the workhouse. (fn. 67) In 1819 the rector stated
that the poor were not without the means of educating their children. (fn. 68) By 1833 19 boys and 33 girls
attended an infant school, supported by school pence
and by subscription. (fn. 69)
Great Stanmore infants' school, next to no. 56
Stanmore Hill, was erected in 1845 at the expense of
Miss Catherine Elizabeth Martin of Woodlands,
who endowed it with £1,000. The building, in an
ornamental half-timbered style, consisted of a
schoolroom with seating for 100 and an adjoining
mistress's house. The average attendance of 70-80
pupils, first recorded in 1871, (fn. 70) varied little in the
late 19th century, although the school was enlarged
to accommodate 175. (fn. 71) Control was vested in the
rector until 1899, when the infants' school was
placed under the same management as the National
school. (fn. 72) Conditions in the schoolroom and classroom were criticized by the county council's surveyor in 1904 but after repairs (fn. 73) the structure
remained in use until 1960, when the pupils moved
to the near-by National school building. (fn. 74) They were
moved to St. John's school in Green Lane in 1964,
soon after the former infants' school had been
demolished. (fn. 75)
Great Stanmore National school was founded by
1826, the year of its union with the National
Society. (fn. 76) The school, which was supported by
voluntary contributions, was attended by 20 boys
and 40 girls in 1833, but its site was not recorded. (fn. 77)
Land on Stanmore Hill, south of the infants' school,
was acquired in 1859 and a new building was opened
in 1861. Accommodation comprised a boys' schoolroom, girls' schoolroom, and classroom, with an
adjoining house for the teacher. The income came
mainly from voluntary contributions, supplemented
by school pence, a sermon, and a rent of £30 from a
piece of land. Part of the land, which presumably
had formed the endowment of the earlier National
school, was soon sold to meet building costs, (fn. 78)
although an annual grant was paid from 1863. (fn. 79) A
new schoolroom was proposed in 1880, when the
rector feared the establishment of a school board, (fn. 80)
and in 1885-6 the school, which had accommodated
151 pupils, was enlarged to take 287. (fn. 81) Average
attendance, however, after rising from 75 in 1861
to 158 by 1882-3, was little affected. (fn. 82) The girls'
classroom was pronounced totally unsuitable in
1904, whereupon the trustees agreed to carry out
extensive improvements. (fn. 83) In 1906 Great Stanmore
National school could accommodate 317 juniors and
171 infants, although the average attendance figures
were only 153 and 68; (fn. 84) there was accommodation
for 253 juniors and 156 infants between 1919 and
1932 and, after reorganizations, for a total of 261
children in 1936 and 169 in 1938. (fn. 85) In 1960, after
protracted negotiations, the juniors were moved to
St. John's school, which had been built by the
county council but which was to be managed by
the London Diocesan Board of Education. When the
infants followed in 1964 the new school, north of the
junction of Stanmore Hill and Green Lane, became
known as St. John's Church of England junior and
infants' school. (fn. 86) In 1970 it was full, with 320 pupils,
although there were plans to double the accommodation. The old school building and master's house,
of red brick with stone dressings, stood empty,
awaiting demolition. (fn. 87)
Stanburn school, for juniors and infants, opened
in temporary premises in 1936. (fn. 88) A new building in
Abercorn Road was opened in 1938, (fn. 89) when it
accommodated 250 children. (fn. 90) Four huts, added in
1947, were still used as classrooms in 1970 and
children were also taught for a time in a clinic in
Honeypot Lane and, from 1949 until 1960, in the
Baptist church halls. A block of four more classrooms was built in 1969, for both juniors and infants.
In 1970, with 480 juniors and 335 infants on the
roll, there were further plans for building. (fn. 91)
Chandos secondary school for boys and Chandos
secondary school for girls opened in Thistlecroft
Gardens in 1939. Hutted classrooms were added to
the girls' school after the Second World War and
later a new brick building was shared by both
schools. In 1970 there was accommodation for 650
girls and 453 boys. (fn. 92)
Dr. Samuel Parr, after being refused the headmastership of Harrow, opened a rival school in
Stanmore Hill in 1771. (fn. 93) Although he began with
60 boys, the venture failed. In 1776 he moved to
Colchester (fn. 94) and in 1780 his property at Stanmore,
a copyhold known as the Great House, was sold. (fn. 95)
In 1794 four pews in the church were temporarily
taken away from a Mr. Dwyer, who had used them
for many years for his school. (fn. 96) By 1833 there were
6 private schools in the parish, all of them established
during the previous 15 years and together containing
86 boys and 27 girls. (fn. 97) In the late 1880s a boys'
preparatory school moved from Brighton to Stanmore Park, which had been sold by Lord Wolverton. (fn. 98) A well-known cricketer, the Revd. Vernon
Royle, was headmaster from 1901 until his death in
1929. After the school's move to Hertford in 1937
the mansion was demolished. (fn. 99) Alcuin House, a
boys' preparatory school, opened in Old Church
Lane in 1927 and closed in 1962. (fn. 1) Other private
schools between the first and second World Wars
included St. Nicholas's preparatory school for girls,
in Gordon Avenue in 1926 and at Pynnacles Corner
in 1929, and St. Brendan's girls' school, in Marsh
Lane from c. 1933 until c. 1958. (fn. 2)