St. Thomas's School, Salisbury
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The earliest recorded school for the parish was St. Thomas's Charity School, which opened on 29th March 1725, while in 1755 a charity school for girls is recorded. From 1817 there was a Sunday school, in association with the National Society, and by 1832 a daily parish school had been established. By 1859 60 boys were being taught in a room above the church vestry while 50 girls were taught in what was described as an unsuitable building. A new school was erected in 1862, to the north-west of the churchyard in St. Thomas's Square, and this opened on 25th July 1863. By 1871 there was accommodation for 114 boys and 119 girls but attendances were 95 boys and 86 girls.
A new building was built for the boys in 1890 and their former room was occupied by the infants. Accommodation at the school was now 558 places and in 1894 the average attendance was 365. The school had originally been intended for the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the parish but the fees were quite high - in 1887 they averaged sixpence per child per week. In 1890 a uniform fee of fourpence was set and the school managers tried to make it an intermediate school between the new Bishop Wordsworth's School and the other parochial schools. They claimed that there were few residents of the parish below the tradesman class and introduced a wider curriculum, which included cookery, carpentry, gymnastics and swimming For these reasons they were allowed to charge higher fees.
A new building was built for the boys in 1890 and their former room was occupied by the infants. Accommodation at the school was now 558 places and in 1894 the average attendance was 365. The school had originally been intended for the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the parish but the fees were quite high - in 1887 they averaged sixpence per child per week. In 1890 a uniform fee of fourpence was set and the school managers tried to make it an intermediate school between the new Bishop Wordsworth's School and the other parochial schools. They claimed that there were few residents of the parish below the tradesman class and introduced a wider curriculum, which included cookery, carpentry, gymnastics and swimming For these reasons they were allowed to charge higher fees.
A new building for 150 children was erected in 1890 and a new boys' school built in 1891. Attendances increased to 427 by 1910 but had dropped back to 331 by 1926. Under the local education authority re-organization of 1926/7 St. Thomas's became a Church of England school for 314 boys of 11 and over from all the parochial schools while the juniors and infants were transferred elsewhere. Further information will be found under St. Thomas's Boys' Secondary Modern School.