A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2, Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) Including Horsham. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1986.
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'Ashington: Education', in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2, Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) Including Horsham, (London, 1986) pp. 73. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol6/pt2/p73b [accessed 24 April 2024]
EDUCATION.
There was more than one dame school in the parish in 1737. (fn. 1) Two schoolmasters were recorded in 1818 and 1819. (fn. 2) In the latter year there was an unendowed school for 40 or more children; the poor were said to lack the means of education but to desire them. (fn. 3) The school later lapsed; in 1845 there was only a private academy, (fn. 4) and in 1865 a dame school attended by 30 boys and girls. (fn. 5)
Ashington C.E. (Controlled) Primary school originated as a National school opened in 1872 on the north side of Rectory Lane. In that year c. 80 children attended; fees were 1½d. a week and an annual grant was being received. (fn. 6) Average attendance was 71 in 1885-6, (fn. 7) but by 1938 had fallen to 64. (fn. 8) There were 110 pupils in 1973, and 120 in 1983; at both dates the building of 1872 was still being used, together with a new one on the opposite side of Rectory Lane. (fn. 9)
A night school was being held in 1872, (fn. 10) and in 1887 evening classes were held twice a week in winter for woodcarving and similar activities, and were said to be very successful. (fn. 11) In 1981 older children went to the middle school in Thakeham, and afterwards to Steyning grammar school. (fn. 12)