There has been schooling in the village for
hundreds of years.
In 1588 Roger Poole
gave his property to trustees and stated that some of the income
from it was to be used for educating children. An early building
used as a school
in 1650 was an empty house
belonging to the manor where anciently the shooting butts had
stood. The trustees used any suitable empty houses for the
schools. Later
in the 1700s Mr. and Mrs.
Bullen were paid £20 a year for teaching 20 children.
In 1807 the Rector reported
that 117 children were being educated in the village, as well as
the 20 charity children. As it became difficult to find suitable
houses for so many children, the trustees decided to build a
school of their own. They purchased the land where the present
school stands and for a price of £550 a large room (now class 4
and the staff room) with a master's house attached was built. With
all of the children in one room it was evident that a second room
was needed, this room was built and is now the kitchen area of the
school. The Poole Charity School ran from 1588 until the Education
Act of 1870 and was provided for by the Roger Poole Foundation.
The school now flourishes as a Voluntary Aided School on the same
site as the small beginnings built by the Poole trustees.
The original 1858 building is still in
use today. The original trustees of the school for 20
children, which started so many years ago, would be amazed and
very proud of the present school.
WHY DO WE NEED TO BUILD
In developing our building plans we wish to help
preserve the character of Little Waltham as a village by retaining
the character of our small village school. Whilst we desperately
need to improve our conditions and facilities we are not building
to increase the capacity of the school.
There is a need to enlarge the school hall so that
whole school assemblies, school plays and school concerts can be
held in a comfortable, safe environment.
The school library is currently housed in a very
small area that connects the reception area of the school, the
staff-room and Class 4 with the hall. This area also, doubles as a
teaching area for `special needs' classes and individual
peripatetic music tuition. This is clearly not a stimulating
learning environment. Over recent years, our dedicated team of
Staff and Governors has worked hard to improve every aspect of the
school, including an extensive. building project which finished
only 5 years, ago. However, it is clear to the whole school
community that more needs to be done if we are to provide the best
facilities possible for our children.
OUR PLANS
Plans have now been approved for us to carry out
extensive improvements over a 2-phase project. The areas to be
developed are:
- Extension to the main assembly hall
- New Library
- New music area / special needs teaching area
- Improvements to the staff and admin. areas.
By developing these areas we will lose two of our
existing classrooms and so the main part of the project involves
replacing these classrooms.
We have done everything possible to make the
project as cost effective as possible whilst maintaining safety
and security and ensuring all classrooms offer adequate teaching
space.
We are proud that Little Waltham School is a
Church School (Voluntary Aided) and endeavour to maintain close
links with the local community. We share the belief of many people
that Church Schools provide an ideal environment for children to
develop both academically and socially. Unfortunately, the
commitment to retain our church school status brings financial
disadvantages. Any building work that we undertake, such as the
project described here, has to be part funded by the Governing
Body. We have to raise 10% of the total costs.
Over the 2 phases of the project we must raise a
total of £65,000.
We believe that with the help, of parents, friends
and the local community we will achieve our goal:
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
We will be organising many fund-raising events
over the next 2 -3 years, please support these events in every way
that you can.
If you are able to make a donation to our fund
then please send it to:-
Little Waltham C of E Primary School
The Street,
Little Waltham,
Essex.
CM3 3NY
Alternatively, have a flutter to help
funds - click here
for more info.
THANK YOU
Of
course, there are always some fools willing to clown about and
when they turned around - well, perhaps the back view was better
after all . . ..
With
a fine sunny day in prospect and the chance to see something that no one
alive had seen, our local 'astronomer' was prompted to set up his binoculars on a
tripod and project an image of the sun on to a screen.
This is a genuine
picture I took of the image on that screen. No little green men
dancing around the planet. But still, it was a great success and the
clouds stayed away!