Brading Schools
In the mid-19th century, there were two schools for the children of ordinary people in Brading, Isle of Wight. The National Schools, on the opposite side of the High Street, north of Brading Church and the British Schools on the Mall, on the north corner of Church Lane which leads to the Congregational Churchyard.
The National Schools was built in 1823 for 200 children, in 1898 it was partly supported by John Henry Oglander, J.P. and the average attendance was 65 boys and girls, and 35 infants[1]. In 1911 the building was an Elementary School, still supported by John Henry Oglander, esq., J.P. and average attendance was 54 boys and girls, and 36 infants[2]. Today (2021) the site is the Brading Youth and Community Centre.
The British Schools was built in 1846[3] for 200 boys and girls - Samuel Bulley was headmaster of the British Schools and the Mall Board Schools from 1854 to 1900[4]. In 1883 the managers of the British Schools asked the Brading Schools Board to take over the school at a nominal rent (such an offer usually suggested financial difficulties)[5]. The School Board agreed to the request and agreed to rent the building for a term of 99 years at a nominal rent of one shilling per year. At the time there were 210 children on the school register[6]. The school was enlarged in 1887 to cater for an additional 90 infants. In 1898 the average attendance was 125 boys and girls, and 68 infants[1]. In 1911 the school building was being used as a school for cookery; girls attend from St. Helen's, Bembridge, Shanklin and Brading[2]. However, that didn’t last long as the buildings were considered no longer fit for educational purposes and had been superseded by the new Council School[7].
The Brading School Board had been established in 1881[8], their first action was to consider the overcrowding at the school in Albert Road, Shanklin, this resulted in the Brading School Board establishing a temporary school at Gatten[9], and later building the Gatten & Lake Board School on Sandown Road in 1883.
In 1900 the Brading School Board established a Higher School at Grove Road, Sandown; this was actually beyond their remit, but there were no consequences and the school was taken over by the County Higher Education Committee in 1902.
In 1910 the Isle of Wight Education Committee built a new Elementary School in West Street, Brading for 200 children to replace the Mall school. In 1911 the average attendance was 87 boys and girls and 27 infants[2]. The buildings have been extended over the years, including to take the pupils from the school on the High Street.
The West Street site is today (2021) Brading Church of England Primary School.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1898 Kellys Hampshire and Isle of Wight Directory
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 1911 Kellys Hampshire and Isle of Wight Directory
- ↑ Hampshire Independent - 18 April 1846 - Report of a Public Meeting for the purpose of establishing Day Schools
- ↑ dates from Samuel Bulley's headstone in the Congregational Burial Ground, Brading
- ↑ Isle of Wight Observer - 22 December 1883
- ↑ Isle of Wight Observer - 2 February 1884
- ↑ Isle of Wight Observer - 16 September 1911
- ↑ Isle of Wight Observer - 15 October 1881
- ↑ Isle of Wight Observer - 19 November 1881
