Wilton C.E. Controlled Secondary Modern School, Wi
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This began as a Sunday School attached to the parish church. In 1819 there were 40 boys and 25 girls plus another 27 children who attended to learn to read and write. By 1835 there were 100 children attending and it became a day school in 1842. The school was sited in West Street in a former cloth factory and received a Board of Education grant for setting up and building alterations. In 1858 there were between 70 and 80 boys and between 180 and 190 infants, taught by a certified teacher and two pupil teachers. It was only later in the century that girls were admitted.
The school united with the National Society in 1902. By 1919 there were 102 boys, 110 girls and 118 infants and the school was an elementary taking all ages. In 1935 the school was re-organized into the Wilton Church of England Junior School and the Wilton Church of England Senior School. Owing to the generosity of a private benefactor plus donations from the church and private sources the senior school moved into new buildings, with accommodation for 200 mixed seniors, at The Hollows in the north west of the town. The school was dedicated by the Bishop of Salisbury and opened by Lord Shaftesbury on July 26th 1935. A total of 180 boys and girls, aged 11 and over, from Wilton, Barford St. Martin, Dinton, Great Wishford, Netherhampton, South Newton, and Teffont Magna started school in September 1935. There was a headmaster and six assistant teachers.
Under the 1944 Education Act the school's status was changed to that of a secondary modern and it became Wilton C.E. Controlled Secondary Modern School. On September 12th 1949 a Practical Instruction Centre, to provide teaching in handicrafts and domestic science for children in elementary schools and those in the Salisbury area with inadequate facilities, was opened. From April 1949 senior pupils from Winterbourne Stoke and Berwick St. James were admitted while in 1952 those from Coombe Bissett attended the school. To cope with expanding numbers, 232 pupils in 1955, new classrooms were erected in 1955-6 and additional land purchased shortly afterwards.
An extension to the school was then built, which increased the capacity to 450 pupils. This was completed on September 9th 1963 at a cost of £146,270. In 1972, under local education re-organization in Wilton and western Salisbury the school became Wilton Church of England Middle School, under which heading further information can be found, and pupils aged 14 and over went to the new school at Bemerton Heath.