A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 6, Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds (Bridgwater and Neighbouring Parishes). Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1992.
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'Pawlett: Education', in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 6, Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds (Bridgwater and Neighbouring Parishes), (London, 1992) pp. 277. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol6/p277a [accessed 24 April 2024]
EDUCATION.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury (d. 1811), paid £5 a year to a schoolmaster to teach poor children in the later 18th century. (fn. 1) The overseers paid a schoolmistress in the 1790s, possibly at the Sunday school which had 30 pupils in 1819. (fn. 2) Reopened in 1824, it had 50 children by 1835 and the teacher was paid out of the poor rate. Four day schools, begun in 1825, 1826, 1829, and 1830, had a total of 73 pupils in 1835, all educated at their parents' expense. (fn. 3) By 1846 three dame schools took 52 children, a day school 14 boys, and a Sunday school 43 children. (fn. 4) The dame schools were open in 1851 but two had closed by 1861 when a National school had been established near the church. (fn. 5) A girls' day school, possibly at Stretcholt and recorded in 1859, may have remained open in 1871, (fn. 6) and a Dissenting school had about 12 pupils in 1868. (fn. 7)
A school board for the parish was elected in 1887 (fn. 8) and built a school on the National school site in 1888. In 1903 there were 58 children on the register and despite some fluctuations during the intervening years there were 53 children aged 5 to 11 on the books in 1975 and 75 in 1981. (fn. 9) A new County school opened west of the village in 1977 to replace the old building. (fn. 10)