Colerne Church of England Primary School, Colerne

The original school, with a house for the teacher, was opened 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.

Around 1911 gas lighting was installed in the school and in that year playground rules were formulated. They stated;
4. Playground to be open at 8.45 and 1.00 to all children except infants.
5. Boys to go in playground on arrival except on wet days when they shelter in their lobby till the arrival of the teacher.
6. Girls to go in the playground when the turret bell rings at 8.55 and 1.25 except on wet days

7. Boys and infants at different times to use the playground for recreation; girls may play in the road between the Girls' entrance and the playground door.
This was changed in 1914 to:
'Girls to play with boys in the playground except during the Summer term and when the surface of the playground is covered with ice.'

During the First World War there was a staff of six. In 1924 there was a diphtheria epidemic in the village with 18 children ill, four of whom died. During the Second World War the school garden was started and after the war outings and excursions were organised for the older children. The school was granted voluntary controlled status in 1946 and from 1948 school meals were provided. The playground was tarmacked in 1952. In the 1950s the school was proving too small for the 180 children on the register, no new children were being admitted and a room in the Rectory was being used for a class of 20 children. The school was enlarged in 1958.

The school now had two infant classes and a total of eight staff. Numbers increased rapidly, partly through the expansion of RAF Colerne, and by 1962 there were 10 staff, a non-teaching head and a school roll of 270. By 1963 there were 329 children and three huts were being used for classes on the RAF station. A new school was built and this was ready in late 1964. In January 1965 children moved into the new school although some classrooms were still being used in the old school. The official opening was on May 21st 1965. Numbers continued to increase and in 1967 a temporary classroom had to be built. In 1976 the closure of RAF Colerne meant a drop of about 100 in the school roll, 2 teachers were lost and the last children were moved from the old to the new building. In 2002 there were 241 children, aged between 4 and 11 years, on the register.