National School, Colerne

The school, with a house for the teacher, was opened near the church in 1853 and by 1858 there were 80 children at the school. In 1875 a School Board, with 5 elected members, was created and the school was rebuilt in 1879. Numbers at the school continued to grow and in 1893 the school was enlarged so that it could accommodate 312 children of all ages. There was a separate infants' school in the south end of the building with 89 on the register in 1894. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as writing, arithmetic, reading and needlework, the infants' curriculum included 'Object Lessons' where they learned about specific objects, such as a camel. reindeer, white bear, brown bear, cow, sheep, goat, leather, paper, water, chalk, parts of a plant, wool and a sponge.

In 1900 there were 97 infants, aged from 3 - 7, and 160 in the mixed school ( 90 in the main room, 40 in the large classroom and 30 in the small classroom), aged from 7 - 14. The infants had 2 teachers and a pupil teacher while the mixed had 2 teachers and 3 pupil teachers. The pupil teachers were taught by the head between 8.10 and 8.50 in the morning and also received instruction at the Bath Pupil Teacher Centre. The mixed school lessons included reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, science, drawing, woodcarving, woodwork, commercial arithmetic and commercial geography. There were often poor attendances owing to bad weather and outbreaks of diseases such as mumps and whooping cough and some infants were absent for most of the winter. On occasions the Clothing Club was held in the school, which was closed on those days.

An HMI report for 1901 said, 'The children are clean and tidy in appearance. They have received careful instruction and have made very considerable progress during the year. The order is excellent.' In that year over 200 children attended the annual Village Treat at Lucknam House, provided by Mrs Walmesley. They sang songs and afterwards had tea and sports and played on the swings, roundabouts, coconut shies and Aunt Sally stalls until sunset. In 1902 the school gave a concert of songs, dialogues and sketches with much original material written by the energetic headmaster, Mr Amos. That year also saw the end of the Boer War and, on the announcement of peace, Mr Amos organised a parade of children through the village to Lucknam House. An impromptu committee quickly raised money for tea and sports that were organised in a field later that day. The school came under control of the county council and in April 1910 the schools were amalgamated into the Colerne Church of England Mixed and Infants' School, under which heading further information can be found.