A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5, Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, the Forest of Dean. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1996.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
The educational system of the Forest of Dean has its roots principally in the missionary work of Anglican ministers in the early 19th century. P. M. Procter led the way in 1813 by opening a day school in his new chapel at Berry Hill and was followed by Henry Berkin, who established a similar school at Holy Trinity church near Drybrook in 1819, and by Henry Poole, who provided schools for Parkend and Bream in 1824 and 1830 respectively. Those schools were on the National plan and, deriving only a small part of their income from pence and other parental contributions, depended for survival on financial assistance from the Crown, acting through the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, and a few wealthy patrons. In the 1820s and 1830s several smaller, presumably dame, schools funded solely by parental payments were opened mostly in or near Cinderford. (fn. 1) The Forest's chief colliery owner built a large school in Cinderford in 1840 but in general mine owners and ironmasters paid education little attention at that time. (fn. 2) Apart from a British school started by a colliery owner in 1851, nonconformist endeavours in education were, until the advent of a school board, confined mostly to the running of Sunday schools and bible classes. (fn. 3) Two of the four Sunday schools recorded in 1833 were supported by Independent congregations (fn. 4) and many chapels, particularly those built after 1850, had their own schoolrooms. (fn. 5) In the mid 19th century six more National or church schools supported by the Crown were established, largely through the efforts of local clergy such as Henry Poole and H. G. Nicholls in the face of opposition from the chapels, (fn. 6) and Cinderford's principal school came under church control.
Following the Education Act of 1870 there was an acute shortage of school places within the Forest. The voluntary system supported ten church schools and there was an unknown number of private schools. In 1874 the Education Department, in giving notice that a school board would be formed for the Forest if enough places were not supplied, identified ten districts in want of schools or increased accommodation. (fn. 7) A board was formed in 1875; its area included the detached parts of Newland belonging to Lea Bailey, the parish of Hinder's Lane and Dockham, (fn. 8) and, from 1883, the Flaxley Meend district of Cinderford. (fn. 9) It was dominated by nonconformist members (fn. 10) and became the focus of disputes between church and chapel over education. (fn. 11) The board had built five schools by 1878 and the voluntary system attempted to start two new schools, but in 1879, when the board schools and nine voluntary schools provided 3,433 places and 221 children attended schools outside the Forest, another 1,150 places were needed. (fn. 12) The board, its programme slowed by an increasing burden of debt, (fn. 13) reopened two schools which had closed and built three new ones in the 1880s and enlarged many of its buildings and provided a school in Cinderford for older children in the mid 1890s. From 1903 the Forest's board schools were managed, under the county education committee, by a local committee using the board's office in Cinderford. (fn. 14) To them were added four new council schools built before the First World War to relieve overcrowding in existing buildings. In those predominantly nonconformist communities served by a church school antagonism between church and chapel continued. (fn. 15) The county later took over most of the Forest's remaining voluntary schools and after the Second World War it provided several new schools to replace some older buildings. Management of the county council's schools passed to smaller local committees in 1969 and the Cinderford education office closed in 1978. (fn. 16) In 1992 the education authority ran 17 elementary schools for the Forest and there was an independent Roman Catholic school, started in 1960, in Cinderford.
The earliest day schools in Cinderford were evidently small private schools such as the seven recorded in that part of the Forest in 1833. They taught between 7 and 30 children and five had been started after 1822. (fn. 17) In 1840 the colliery owner Edward Protheroe built a school at Cinderford Tump for the benefit of families in his employ (fn. 18) and funded it by fees and a levy on his workforce. (fn. 19) After 1843, when he handed it over to the Crown in part payment of debts, Protheroe was in dispute with the minister of the neighbouring church of St. John the Evangelist about the school's management and in 1847 the Commissioners of Woods acting for the Crown placed it under the sole care of the deputy surveyor of the Forest. (fn. 20) During that period attendances, by children and adults up to the age of 22, sometimes exceeded 280, (fn. 21) and income included a grant from the Great Western Railway Co. besides the Crown's contribution and school pence, (fn. 22) In 1855, following a reduction in funds, control of the school was transferred to St. John's parish. (fn. 23) As St. John's school it reopened in 1857 with boys' and girls' departments and soon had an average attendance of 112, (fn. 24) A National school, it received regular financial support from the Crawshay family and the Crown. (fn. 25) In 1883 it passed to the school board, which ran it with junior mixed and infants' departments until 1887, when it was replaced by St. White's school. (fn. 26) The building was a church hall in 1992.
In 1851 the colliery owner Aaron Goold opened a British school at Cinderford in connexion with Wesley, his chapel in Belle Vue Road. The school, which from 1853 occupied a new building north-east of St. John's church, in the later Church Road, had boys' and girls' departments and was intended by Goold for his employees' children. Its income came from subscriptions paid by the workmen. Goold's sons ran the school after his death in 1862 and it had an average attendance of 170 in 1863. (fn. 27) Although from 1871 it apparently received a Treasury grant in addition to a parliamentary grant (fn. 28) it had closed by 1874. (fn. 29) Children from the north part of Cinderford attended short lived National schools at Littledean Hill and Flaxley Meend. The Littledean Hill school was opened in 1852 by H. G. Nicholls, minister of Holy Trinity church, Harrow Hill. (fn. 30) The schoolroom, which was also used as a chapel, closed in 1857. (fn. 31) Flaxley Meend National or C. of E. school, opened in 1875, (fn. 32) was built at the instigation of G. A. Allan, minister of St. John's church, on land at the corner of Abbey Street and Forest Road given by Sir Thomas Crawley-Boevey, Bt., and was also used as a chapel. (fn. 33) The school had junior mixed and infants' departments and an average attendance of 137 in 1876, when its income, from pence, did not meet its expenditure. (fn. 34) Following the opening of a board school at Bilson in 1877 attendances at Cinderford's older schools declined. (fn. 35) Flaxley Meend school, which was kept open principally by a local surgeon William Heane from 1878, became an infants' school and closed in 1881, (fn. 36) A school board formed for Flaxley Meend later that year (fn. 37) lapsed in 1883 when the area became part of East Dean township. (fn. 38)
Bilson school, one of the first to be provided by the Forest board, had new buildings in the later Station Street with 433 places in boys', girls', and infants' departments and a detached pair of schoolhouses. (fn. 39) The school was enlarged in 1879 and 1886 (fn. 40) and the average attendance was 670 in 1889 (fn. 41) and, after the older children had been moved to Double View school in 1896, 542 in 1910. (fn. 42) Remodelled in 1914, it had junior mixed and infants' departments from 1932 (fn. 43) and an average attendance of 429 in 1938. (fn. 44) From 1974 it took only infants, the juniors being transferred to new buildings in Latimer Road, (fn. 45) and in 1992, as Bilson County Infants' school, it had 190 pupils and Latimer school 251. (fn. 46) In 1887 the school board opened St. White's school in Ruspidge to replace St. John's school. (fn. 47) St. White's school, in new buildings on the Littledean-Coleford road, had junior mixed and infants' departments and the average attendance in 1889 was 440. (fn. 48) Double View school took the older children from 1896, (fn. 49) and attendances fell to 323 in 1910 and 289 in 1938. (fn. 50) In 1964 its two departments were amalgamated (fn. 51) and in 1992, as St. White's Primary school, it had 364 children on its roll. (fn. 52)
Cinderford retained one or two private schools in the late 19th century and the early 20th. They included a boarding and day school for girls at St. White's in 1876 (fn. 53) and a school recorded in 1902 and 1931. There was also a preparatory school in the town in the 1930s. (fn. 54) In 1960 a Roman Catholic school was established in a house in Belle Vue Road next to the Catholic church in Flaxley Street. Called St. Anthony's, it was attached to a convent and as it grew new buildings were provided and the house to the north was taken over. In 1992 it remained independent, teaching c. 110 children up to the age of 11 and including a nursery school. (fn. 55)
In Lydbrook, where a schoolmaster was living in 1837, (fn. 56) a day school was established in the C. of E. schoolroom at Upper Lydbrook in 1849. (fn. 57) At the end of 1851 the building housed separate boys' and girls' schools or departments with a combined average attendance of 92. (fn. 58) They were funded by an annual grant from the Crown, voluntary contributions, and pence and were managed by the minister of Holy Jesus church, which had been built next to them. In 1873 new rooms were added for the girls to leave the original building for the boys, (fn. 59) and by 1875 an infants' class had been started. At that time there were many dame schools in the area, including Worrall Hill, (fn. 60) and a few years later a board school was provided at Joy's Green to meet a continuing shortage of places. (fn. 61) The church school, which was reorganized with junior mixed and infants' departments, had average attendances of 193 in 1889 (fn. 62) and 185 in 1904, (fn. 63) by which time the county council had decided to replace it. Disputes over the choice of site for the new school delayed its construction, which became more necessary with overcrowding at the church school, and in 1908 the older boys were transferred to a temporary school established in the Baptist schoolroom at Lower Lydbrook. The council school opened at Upper Lydbrook in 1909 (fn. 64) in brick buildings with places for 246 children. Average attendance was 210 in 1910 and, after enlargement, 251 in 1938, (fn. 65) just before the junior and infants' departments were amalgamated. (fn. 66) As Lydbrook County Primary school it had 108 children on its roll in 1992. (fn. 67) The church school was abandoned in 1909 and its building reverted to use as a church hall and Sunday school. It fell into disrepair (fn. 68) and was pulled down in 1975. (fn. 69)
Joy's Green board school, built for the Lydbrook district, opened in 1883 in new buildings including a detached schoolhouse. (fn. 70) The school had junior mixed and infants' departments with places for 227 children and in 1889 the average attendance was 200. (fn. 71) The building was enlarged in 1894 (fn. 72) and the average attendance was 287 in 1910, falling to 110 in 1938. (fn. 73) As Joy's Green County Primary school it had 58 children on the roll in 1992. (fn. 74)
Parkend school, opened in 1824, was founded by Henry Poole on the National plan with the sexes taught separately. It occupied a new building on the Yorkley road north of St. Paul's church and Poole, who bore most of the expense, also built a schoolhouse to the east. (fn. 75) Although some way from any settlement, the school in 1825 claimed attendances of 150 on weekdays and 190 on Sundays (fn. 76) and in 1833 had a daily attendance of 140. (fn. 77) In 1842 the building was closed as unsafe through mining subsidence and a year or two later the school was rebuilt on a site further east. (fn. 78) Despite an annual grant from the Crown (fn. 79) Poole relied on financial help from Edward Machen and Alice Davies of Whitemead Park to keep the school open, (fn. 80) and on at least one occasion he closed it for lack of funds. (fn. 81) As minister of St. Paul's church from 1858 J. J. Ebsworth managed the school, (fn. 82) which had a mixed department and, by the later 1870s, an infants' class, (fn. 83) and he closed it in 1879 following the loss of children to board schools at Pillowell and Ellwood and the closure of local ironworks. (fn. 84) The school board reopened the school in 1885 (fn. 85) and it had an average attendance of 104 in 1889. (fn. 86) It was enlarged in the mid 1890s, when temporary use was made of the Baptist schoolroom at Parkend, (fn. 87) and had an average attendance of 150 in 1910. In 1938 it usually taught 89 children (fn. 88) and in 1992, as Parkend County Primary school, it had 52 children on its roll. (fn. 89)
Ruardean Woodside and Ruardean Hill had a few dame schools in 1850 when H. G. Nicholls, assisted by the National Society, built a schoolroom for infants at Ruardean Woodside. The room, to which a schoolhouse was added, (fn. 90) also served as a chapel. The school was supported by the Crown (fn. 91) and had an average attendance of 30 in 1873. (fn. 92) It closed a year or so after a board school opened at Ruardean Woodside in 1878 but one or more dame schools remained in the area until the mid 1880s. (fn. 93) The board school, known officially as Ruardean Hill school (fn. 94) and locally as the Slad from a neighbouring colliery, (fn. 95) occupied a new building with places for 191 children in boys', girls', and infants' departments (fn. 96) and served the hamlets of Ruardean Hill, the Pludds, and Brierley. (fn. 97) It was remodelled in 1883, when the junior departments were amalgamated, (fn. 98) and had an average attendance of 178 in 1889 (fn. 99) and, after the building was enlarged in 1893 and 1902, (fn. 100) of 311 in 1910 and 231 in 1938. (fn. 101) The school, in which the junior and infants' departments had been merged in 1926, (fn. 102) was later renamed Woodside Primary school and in 1992 it had 115 children on the roll. (fn. 103)
The first day school for the Drybrook district was opened by Henry Berkin in 1819 in the schoolroom next to Holy Trinity church at Harrow Hill. The school, on the National plan, was closed in 1824 for lack of pupils and funds. (fn. 104) In 1833 ten children from that part of the Forest attended a day school funded with bequests producing £5 5s. a year. (fn. 105) In 1835 Berkin revived his school. (fn. 106) Known later as Holy Trinity C. of E. school, it received an annual grant from the Crown (fn. 107) and was affiliated to the National Society, and in 1847 it taught 57 boys and 93 girls in separate departments. Many more children attended on Sundays. (fn. 108) H. G. Nicholls, Berkin's successor at Holy Trinity in 1847, (fn. 109) started National schools in several mining communities in his parish (fn. 110) and in 1862 he moved Holy Trinity school to a new building to the north. (fn. 111) The new school, which had places for 175 children in junior mixed and infants' departments and an adjacent schoolhouse, became overcrowded and another classroom was added in 1870. (fn. 112) The infants' department formed a separate school from 1874. (fn. 113) In 1870 members of Drybrook Independent chapel began building a school at Harrow Hill (fn. 114) but if it ever opened it was short lived. Drybrook had a private school in the mid 1870s. (fn. 115) The Holy Trinity schools, supported financially by M. W. Colchester-Wemyss, Sir James Campbell, and the Crown, (fn. 116) had a total average attendance of 240 in 1889. (fn. 117) The building was enlarged further in 1891 and 1904 to relieve overcrowding (fn. 118) and the average attendance in 1910 was 268. (fn. 119) Most of the children were from poor mining and nonconformist families. In 1926, in the absence of funds to maintain them, (fn. 120) the schools were handed over to the county education authority, (fn. 121) which merged them. In 1938 the school had an average attendance of 164 (fn. 122) and in 1992, as Drybrook County Primary school, it had 119 children on the roll. (fn. 123)
A school at Hawthorns, north of Drybrook, was started by H. G. Nicholls, who built a room for an infants' school and church services in 1851, (fn. 124) The school, despite an annual grant from the Crown, lapsed soon after 1857. (fn. 125) To supply extra places for the Drybrook, Ruardean Hill, and Bilson areas the school board built a school at Steam mills, north of Cinderford. The school, which opened in 1883, had boys', girls', and infants' departments. (fn. 126) It had 416 places and the average attendance in 1889 was 241. (fn. 127) The school was reorganized with junior mixed and infants' departments in 1906 (fn. 128) and had an attendance averaging 211 in 1910 and 198 in 1938. (fn. 129) The departments were merged in 1943. (fn. 130) Part of its premises was used as a teachers' centre in 1990 (fn. 131) and the school, as Steam Mills County Primary school, had 51 children on its roll in 1992. (fn. 132)
Plump hill school was opened by the school board in 1878 in a new building incorporating a schoolhouse. The school had 151 places in junior mixed and infants' departments, (fn. 133) which were merged in 1883, (fn. 134) and an average attendance in 1889 of 147. (fn. 135) More classrooms were added in 1890 (fn. 136) and the average attendance was 137 in 1910, falling to 85 in 1938. (fn. 137) The school was closed in 1984, the children being transferred to schools in Mitcheldean, Littledean, and Westbury-on-Severn, (fn. 138) and the building became an annexe of the county's field studies centre at the Wilderness near Mitcheldean.
A church school for Soudley was opened in 1875 by G. A. Allan, vicar of St. John's, Cinderford. It was a single mixed department in an iron room at Upper Soudley provided by Henry Crawshay and used also for Anglican worship. The school soon closed for lack of pupils, many children continuing to attend a school outside Soudley, (fn. 139) but in 1880 it was successfully revived as a board school. (fn. 140) In 1885 a brick building was erected north of the iron room (fn. 141) and in 1889 the school included an infants' department and had an average attendance of 136. It was enlarged in 1893 (fn. 142) and the average attendance was 167 in 1910, falling to 87 in 1938. (fn. 143) As Soudley County Primary school it taught 54 children in 1992. (fn. 144) The iron schoolroom, which the school board vacated in 1886, (fn. 145) was removed before 1920. (fn. 146)
Henry Poole founded two National infants' schools for the hamlets around Viney hill and Blakeney hill in the south-eastern part of the Forest. One, between Oldcroft and Viney Hill, dated from 1850 and the other, at Blakeney Woodside on the west side of Blakeney Hill, from 1851. Both occupied new buildings provided with help from Edward Machen and Charles Bathurst of Lydney Park and were cruciform for use also as chapels. Next to each stood a new schoolhouse. (fn. 147) The schools, particularly that at Blakeney Woodside, had little income apart from annual grants from the Crown and Poole spent money to keep them open. (fn. 148) After 1866 they were managed by the minister of All Saints' church, Viney Hill, who received some financial help from the Bathurst family and others. (fn. 149) The Oldcroft and Viney Hill school, which became known as St. Swithin (fn. 150) and later as All Saints' school, was apparently a junior mixed school in 1856 and it also taught infants in 1871. (fn. 151) In 1889 it had an average attendance of 106. (fn. 152) The building was enlarged several times, the first in 1893, (fn. 153) and attendances averaged 191 in 1910, when it was overcrowded, and 111 in 1938. (fn. 154) It became a controlled school in 1948 (fn. 155) and closed in 1965. (fn. 156) The building was later converted as three dwellings. Blakeney Woodside school, which was also reorganized to take juniors as well as infants, (fn. 157) had an average attendance of only 48 in 1889. (fn. 158) In 1894 the Revd. E. S. Smith closed it for want of funds to make improvements required by the Department of Education, but efforts by local people to raise money won the school a reprieve until 1908 when it finally closed. (fn. 159) In 1904 the average attendance had been 90. (fn. 160) The schoolroom, which remained in use for services and a Sunday school, was demolished in the 1950s. (fn. 161)
A church school at Yorkley Wood, established as part of a mission from Bream church in 1867, (fn. 162) taught mostly infants in 1871. (fn. 163) Other settlements along the southern edge of the Forest between Yorkley and Whitecroft were without an official day school until 1877 when Pillowell school, one of the first board schools in the Forest, opened between Pillowell and Whitecroft. It had places for 400 children in detached blocks for boys', girls', and infants' departments and a pair of schoolhouses. (fn. 164) The average attendance was 281 in 1889 (fn. 165) and, after enlargement, (fn. 166) 505 in 1904. (fn. 167) To relieve overcrowding the county opened a temporary school at Whitecroft Wesleyan Methodist chapel in 1907 and built a council school on the Lydney road at Yorkley in 1909. (fn. 168) Attendance at Pillowell fell to 459 in 1910 and to 150 in 1938. (fn. 169) The school's departments were merged in 1938 and 1939 (fn. 170) and, as Pillowell County Primary school, it had 61 children on its roll in 1992. (fn. 171) Yorkley Council school, which took children also from All Saints' school, Viney Hill, had junior mixed and infants' departments (fn. 172) and average attendances of 259 in 1910 and 181 in 1938. (fn. 173) In 1992, as Yorkley County Primary school, it had 155 children on its roll. (fn. 174)
Henry Poole established a day school for the children of Bream, where he was minister, and the adjoining part of the Forest in 1830. (fn. 175) It occupied a new building north of the Coleford road at Bream Tufts, (fn. 176) erected by subscription and incorporating a schoolhouse, and was run on the National plan with boys' and girls' departments. (fn. 177) It taught 80 children in 1847. (fn. 178) Poole supplied the deficiency in its funds, which, despite support from the Crown and Mary Gough's educational charity for Bream, were insufficient because of the poverty of local residents. Poole's successors at Bream kept the school open (fn. 179) and in 1862 the Revd. Cornelius Witherby moved it to a more central position at Bream's Eaves, where the Bible Christians had started a short lived day school at their chapel the previous year. (fn. 180) The new National school and schoolhouse, provided with financial help from Alice Davies, (fn. 181) stood east of the Parkend road with separate accommodation for the junior boys and for the junior girls and infants. (fn. 182) From 1865 the departments were run as separate schools and in 1874, following some additions to the building, an infants' department was formed. In 1888 the junior schools were merged (fn. 183) and in 1889 the school had an average attendance of 176. The building was enlarged in 1893 and 1900 (fn. 184) but was overcrowded in 1904 when the attendance was 382. To provide more places the county established a temporary infants' school in the Primitive Methodists' nearby schoolroom in 1905 (fn. 185) and opened a new infants' school opposite the C. of E. (formerly National) school in 1907. (fn. 186) In 1910 the new building, called Bream Council school, had an average attendance of 153, including some juniors, and the C. of E. school remained overcrowded with an attendance of 311. (fn. 187) The council school was enlarged in 1912 (fn. 188) and again in 1927, when it was reorganized to take junior girls and infants (fn. 189) and the C. of E. school was left with junior boys. In 1938, when their average attendances totalled 367, both schools had many spare places (fn. 190) and in 1951 the C. of E. school, which had accepted controlled status in 1948, became a junior mixed school and the girls' department at the council school a secondary modern school. (fn. 191) Following the secondary school's closure in 1973 (fn. 192) the C. of E. school moved into the buildings west of the Parkend road (fn. 193) and in 1992, as Bream C. of E. (Voluntary Controlled) Primary school, it had 222 children, both infants and juniors, on its roll. (fn. 194) The building which it had vacated became a youth centre and library.
Ellwood had a dame school in the mid 1870s (fn. 195) when it was chosen as the place for one of the Forest's first board schools. That school opened in stages in 1877 and 1878 in a new building incorporating a schoolhouse, and had places for 278 children in boys', girls', and infants' departments. (fn. 196) It was reorganized several times and in 1889 had an average attendance of 174 in junior mixed and infants' departments. (fn. 197) It was enlarged in 1894 but had many spare places in the early 20th century. (fn. 198) The average attendance was 279 in 1910 and almost the same in 1922. (fn. 199) The building was remodelled in the later 1920s to provide more accommodation (fn. 200) but the average attendance fell to 177 in 1938. (fn. 201) A special school used part of the building between 1959 and 1964 (fn. 202) and the elementary school, known as Ellwood County Primary school, had 88 pupils in 1992. (fn. 203)
To mark the Golden Jubilee of P. M. Procter's school and chapel at Berry Hill (fn. 204) W. H. Taylor, minister of Christ Church, (fn. 205) built a National school for the Lane End district, east of Coleford. The district had a day school in a Baptist chapel at Mitcheldean Lane End in 1851 (fn. 206) and one or two small dame schools in 1862. Known as the Forest Church Jubilee school, the National school with its adjacent schoolhouse was at Broadwell Lane End and was paid for by subscriptions and grants. It opened in 1864 with 70 pupils, including infants, and was enlarged by Taylor several times. (fn. 207) In 1889 it had 270 places and an average attendance of 230 in junior mixed and infants' departments or schools, (fn. 208) which in 1890, when the Lane End district became part of Coleford for ecclesiastical purposes, were renamed Coleford Lane End National schools. (fn. 209) The building was enlarged further in 1893 and 1904 (fn. 210) but was overcrowded in 1910, when the schools' average attendance was 340. (fn. 211) In 1914 the older children were transferred to a new school at Five Acres. (fn. 212) Coleford Lane End schools, which the local education authority took over in 1926, (fn. 213) had a total average attendance of 261 in 1938. (fn. 214) Renamed Broadwell Lane End schools in 1954, (fn. 215) they later moved to new buildings at Coalway Lane End, just within Coleford, the infants being transferred in 1966 (fn. 216) and the juniors in 1977, (fn. 217) to become Coalway Infants' and Coalway Junior schools. In 1992 they had 148 and 218 children on their respective rolls. (fn. 218)
In 1813 P. M. Procter opened a day school on the National plan at Berry hill. For a year or so it used his school-chapel, (fn. 219) for the building of which the Treasury and the National Society made grants, and then it moved to a new room to the north, the original building being enlarged to form the chapel consecrated under the name of Christ Church in 1816. The new school had boys' and girls' departments. It received an annual grant from the Crown and depended principally on voluntary contributions. (fn. 220) The school, under the control of successive ministers of Christ Church, (fn. 221) taught 115 children in 1847. (fn. 222) It admitted infants by 1852 when, known as Christ Church C. of E. Mixed school, it received little financial support locally. Over half of its income came from a grant of the Commissioners of Woods, acting for the Crown, and the rest from pence, a few subscriptions, and the minister's share of a trust fund intended for repairing his church. (fn. 223) W. H. Taylor, perpetual curate 1852-83, (fn. 224) made several additions to the school and in 1856 built a schoolhouse some way to the south-west. (fn. 225) There was a separate infants' school at Berry Hill in 1870. (fn. 226) In 1889 the National school had 260 places and an average attendance of 195 in junior mixed and infants' departments. (fn. 227) To meet the requirements of the Board of Education the Revd. Christopher Barnes in 1897 added more rooms and converted some outbuildings of his adjacent parsonage for school use. (fn. 228) The school was overcrowded in 1910 when the average attendance was 303, (fn. 229) and in 1914 the older children were transferred to a new school at Five Acres. (fn. 230) Christ Church school, which became so neglected that the local education authority condemned its buildings, was handed over to the authority in 1936 (fn. 231) and had an average attendance of 195 in 1938. (fn. 232) In 1954 it moved to a new building in Nine Wells Road and was renamed Berry Hill County Primary school. (fn. 233) In 1992 it had 261 children on its roll (fn. 234) and the original schoolrooms north of Christ Church were used for church purposes and a nursery school.
Dean Hall (formerly Old Dean Hall) school for educationally subnormal children was opened by the county council in 1958 in a building south of the Speech House originally intended for a school of forestry. Children of secondary age were accommodated in part of Ellwood school from 1959 until 1964 when new buildings at Dean Hall school came into use. (fn. 235) In 1992 there were 93 children aged from 5 to 16 on the roll. (fn. 236) Oakdene school, so called from 1970, was built by the county council in Dockham Road, Cinderford, in 1962 as a training establishment for educationally subnormal adults and children. From 1967 it admitted persons under the age of 20 (fn. 237) and in 1992 it taught 25 children aged from 3 to 19. (fn. 238)
In the mid 19th century a number of night schools continued the education of older children in the Forest. Classes for young colliers were held in the Methodist chapel at Littledean Hill and elsewhere (fn. 239) and Henry Poole ran classes in his schools at Bream Tufts and between Oldcroft and Viney Hill. The Bream Tufts night school, which taught 30 children in 1847, had been suspended by 1854 apparently for irregularities by its teachers. (fn. 240) Cinderford's principal school, which older children attended in the daytime, was apparently used for a winter evening school funded largely by the South Wales Railway Co. and teaching as many as 90 adults in the mid 1850s. (fn. 241) More winter night schools for older children were opened after the school board's decision in 1879 to make its buildings available. They were run at first privately and later by the board, and most were discontinued just after the First World War. (fn. 242) From the early 1890s education of a more vocational nature was provided throughout the Forest by science and art classes organized from Lydney and by mining and domestic science classes financed by the county council. The classes were usually held in elementary school buildings in the evenings and most were conducted at Cinderford. (fn. 243) Although it had a senior elementary school from 1896, Cinderford did not replace Lydney as the centre of secondary and technical education for the Forest until 1910, when the county council opened a secondary school there. A few years later the county opened a senior elementary school on the west side of the Forest at Five Acres. Some Foresters attended secondary schools in Monmouth before the First World War (fn. 244) and some a secondary school near Mitcheldean after 1930. (fn. 245) In the 1930s the county ran technical classes in several Forest schools, (fn. 246) and following the Education Act of 1944 it had secondary grammar, modern, and technical schools in Cinderford and secondary modern schools at Five Acres and Bream. All of those schools were affected by later reorganizations of secondary education in the Forest area.
Double View school, Cinderford, was opened by the school board in 1896 to take older children from local elementary schools. It had new buildings in Woodville Road (fn. 247) and in 1904 an average attendance of 413. (fn. 248) The curriculum had been broadened to include industrial and technical subjects by the First World War. (fn. 249) The school, which had an average attendance of 287 in 1938, (fn. 250) became a secondary modern school under the 1944 Act. (fn. 251) Between 1968 and 1978 it moved in stages to new buildings in Causeway Road (fn. 252) and in 1980 it had 748 pupils on its roll. (fn. 253) In 1985 it became a comprehensive school, called the Heywood school after the neighbouring plantation, for children up to 16 years. (fn. 254) There were 1,064 pupils on the roll in 1992. (fn. 255)
East Dean Grammar school originated as Cinderford Higher Elementary school, which the county council opened in 1910 as a secondary school and centre for training elementary school teachers. Occupying new buildings south of Station Street, the school took children from 12 years and its curriculum included industrial and commercial subjects appropriate for local employment. It charged a tuition fee of £1 a pupil a year and awarded some free places to children selected from elementary schools in and around the Forest. (fn. 256) Known as Cinderford Secondary school from 1919 and East Dean Grammar school from 1927, it had 367 pupils in 1932 (fn. 257) and remained a grammar school following the 1944 Act. (fn. 258) Among buildings added to the Station Street site were those of a mining school, (fn. 259) which ran secondary technical classes in many places in the Forest area and in 1945 established the Forest of Dean Secondary Technical school on the Station Street site. (fn. 260) The technical school admitted many boys from Ross-on-Wye (Herefs.). In 1959 it merged with the grammar school, (fn. 261) which had more than 500 pupils in 1968 when it was replaced by a new school at Five Acres. (fn. 262)
Berry Hill Secondary school was originally Five Acres Council school, opened in 1914 to take older children from local elementary schools. It had new buildings at Five Acres with places for 260 pupils (fn. 263) and average attendances of 215 in 1922 and 146 in 1938. (fn. 264) It became a secondary modern school under the 1944 Act (fn. 265) and, having been renamed in 1946, (fn. 266) its catchment area was widened in 1966 on the closure of Coleford secondary modern school. (fn. 267) The group of school buildings was enlarged by the construction, on the east side of the site, of the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar school, opened in 1968 to replace grammar schools at Cinderford and Coleford. (fn. 268) In 1980 the secondary modern school had 933 pupils on its roll and the grammar school, which admitted children from the secondary modern school and from Double View school to its sixth form, had 770. (fn. 269) The secondary modem and grammar schools at Five Acres were amalgamated in 1985 to form a comprehensive school for children up to 16 years (fn. 270) and older children subsequently attended the Royal Forest of Dean College. (fn. 271) The comprehensive school, named Lakers school, had 794 pupils on its roll in 1992. (fn. 272)
Bream Secondary school, opened in 1951, was a secondary modern school housed in part of the county council's school west of the Parkend road at Bream's Eaves. It had over 200 pupils (fn. 273) and its catchment area included Parkend and Yorkley. It closed in 1973 as part of a reorganization of secondary education in the Lydney area and the pupils were transferred to schools at Lydney and Five Acres. (fn. 274)
TECHNICAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
Advanced technical instruction in the Forest developed principally from mining classes started by the county council in the early 1890s. (fn. 275) Classes, including some at a less advanced level, (fn. 276) were held in school buildings in many places, including Bream's Eaves, Cinderford, Coleford, Lydbrook, and Yorkley. (fn. 277) Under the supervision of Francis Brain and later J. J. Joynes they attracted c. 100 students and from 1900 operated a scholarship scheme. (fn. 278) Later the classes were run from the Forest of Dean Mining School, (fn. 279) which the county education committee opened in Cinderford in 1925. Occupying a new building next to the secondary school in Station Street, the mining school was built and equipped using grants from the Miners' Welfare Fund. (fn. 280) More buildings were provided later, and by 1935, when the school had 126 students, the curriculum had been broadened to embrace engineering, commerce, languages, and construction. (fn. 281) That year the education authority entrusted the school to governors representing all sides of the mining industry. (fn. 282) As the industry declined locally the school, which in 1937 became known as the Forest of Dean Mining and Technical school (college from 1953), (fn. 283) introduced new subjects, including forestry and domestic science, and dropped mining from its curriculum. (fn. 284) In 1966 it amalgamated with an art college in Lydney to form the West Gloucestershire College of Further Education, which was based on the Station Street campus (fn. 285) where it took over buildings vacated by East Dean Grammar school in 1968. The college, which took students from the age of 16, kept its art department at Lydney until 1970 and used buildings in Woodville Road, Cinderford, given up by Double View school. (fn. 286) Following the reorganization of secondary education in the Forest area in 1985 the college was replaced by the Royal Forest of Dean College, which offered full-time and part-time courses to students from 16 to 18 years and to adults. It was provided with new buildings on the campus at Five Acres, where all the fulltime courses were held from 1989. In that year it admitted students from the Lydney area and in 1992, when it used some of the Station Street buildings for technical and employment training schemes and ran courses in schools and community centres throughout west Gloucestershire, it had c. 5,000 enrolled students. (fn. 287)
Working foresters visited the Forest of Dean for practical instruction long before 1904 (fn. 288) when the Commissioners of Woods established a school for them there. (fn. 289) Known as the School of Forestry for Working Foresters, (fn. 290) it moved from the deputy gaveller's office in Coleford to Parkend in 1905 and occupied part of the former ironworks there from 1909. (fn. 291) Between 1915 and 1917 a new building was put up near the Speech House for the school, (fn. 292) which, however, remained at Parkend. It provided a course for boys learning forestry from 1952 (fn. 293) and had 40 students in the mid 1960s. (fn. 294) On the closure of the school in 1971 the Forestry Commission sold the premises to Bristol city corporation for a field studies centre for secondary pupils from the city. The centre, opened in 1972, was run by Avon county council from 1974 and its use was extended to include adventure activities. (fn. 295)