FROXFIELD Primary School celebrated 140 years at an outdoor celebration – and with a cake.
Head teacher Vickie Farrow said: “We were presented with a lovely card from Mrs Pam Goodall, local historian and ex-teacher with a longstanding connection to the school. In the card was a copy of the first log book from 1876 giving details about the school, and the children all enjoyed a piece of chocolate birthday cake too.”
When the Church of England school at High Cross opened in 1876 it could accommodate 100 children, 27 of whom were infants, and on the first day 77 children enrolled. It is anticipated that by September there will be 85 to 90 pupils. In the original building there is one large ground floor classroom. Pupils came and went, dependent on the time of year and the agricultural calendar, especially at harvest time. But when the school became just an infant’s school numbers dwindled and in 2012 there were just 25 pupils, and closure was discussed.
A parents’ campaign backed by the head teacher to return it to primary school status was successful, and it hasn’t looked back. During the summer of 2015, the loft space above the main classroom was converted into a much needed additional classroom.