National School, Seagry

A National School opened in 1850, located on the road to Great Somerford between Upper and Lower Seagry. The Rev. John Hemsted, vicar from 1848 – 1854, was responsible for establishing the school, in addition to rebuilding the church and enlarging the vicarage. When the school was inspected in 1858 the number of pupils attending the school ranged from 30 to 40 boys and girls who were taught by an \"uncertificated mistress in a nice little school-room with boarded floor\". By 1885 there was an average attendance in the school, which was said to have a capacity of 60 pupils, of 25 pupils; in 1889 there were 27.

However, such average numbers mask the fluctuations common in school attendance in rural areas where the labour requirements of farmers at various times in the year resulted in periodic absences of children employed to carry out agricultural work. The requirement of the Education Act of 1870 that all children between the ages of five and thirteen should attend school, whether board or voluntary establishments, was regularly ignored by both farmers and parents, the latter of whom might require the additional income brought into the household by their children’s temporary employment. The move to free elementary education for all children through the Education Act of 1891 together with the more energetic activities of School Attendance Officers brought some amelioration to this position. Average school attendance figures for Seagry in 1899 were 45.