National School, Kilmington
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In 1829 Sir Richard Colt Hoare gave a small paddock as the site for a school, between the present school and the road. The deed for the school is dated 31 March 1830 and a handsome schoolhouse was built with the money raised by a public subscription. A total of 40 children could be accommodated and this school served the village for over 40 years. It was reported as being in dilapidated state by 1870 and a new building, behind the original school, was built for 120 pupils in 1873-4. The cost, including a house for the schoolmistress, was £640. Unfortunately the population of the parish dropped by 20% in the 1870s and by 1899 the average school attendance was only 46.
A countryside survey of schools in 1903 found a certain number of dilapidations after 30 years. Apart from broken chairs and tables and nine out of date desks, that needed replacing, there were no fresh air inlets and the worn floors of the mixed school and the infants' classroom needed to be replaced by a new wood block floor laid on six inches of concrete. The decoration of the classroom was in bad condition and it was recommended that the walls be distempered and the woodwork painted with three coats, the old paint being first burnt off. The pit closets needed to be replaced with Moule's earth closets and the buildings repaired. The school had 50 pupils in 1907 when it was taken over by Wiltshire County Council.
In December 1921 the children gave a 'simple entertainment' to their mothers, performing such songs as 'Liberty', 'Daffodils' and 'Bye bye children'.
The following February the school was closed for a week owing to an outbreak of influenza. Scarletina struck the school in July 1927 when the school was closed for 18 days, and in January 1929 whooping cough in the village brought about closure for two weeks.
A happier closure was on 23 April 1923 when a holiday was given for the Royal Wedding. On 4 June that year the vicar brought his gramophone into the school so that the children could hear recordings of the speeches made by the King and Queen for Empire Day. The children were said to be 'all most interested and delighted'. By 1929 the school had a radio and at 11 a.m. on 24 May the children listened to the live Empire Day broadcast and particularly enjoyed the singing of William Blake's 'Jerusalem'. Since its founding the school had been an elementary, or all age school, and from 1918 children up to the age of 14 were educated there. It became a junior school for 5 to 11 year olds on 1 September 1930 and the older children were transferred to the secondary school.