Beauchamp Roding: School

SCHOOL

In 1818 there was a dame school in the parish, attended by 28 children, (fn. 1) but by 1822 it seems to have closed. In that year the rector decided to establish a Church school. Fearing that the parish was too poor to support the cost of building and maintaining a schoolroom he sought subscriptions for the conversion of a room in the church tower into a classroom. The National Society gave £20 and subscribers all or most of the further £24 required. (fn. 2) In 1828 there were 29 pupils at the school and there were 38 in 1833, when the only other local school was a private one with 7 pupils. By 1833 the Church school had been removed to a cottage rented by the rector, who also allowed the mistress £10 a year in addition to the school pence. (fn. 3) By 1839 the old parish workhouse, on the road to Bird's Green, was being used as the school. The new rector was paying expenses with the help of his predecessor, who continued to give a large subscription, and 41 children attended. (fn. 4) Attendance rose to 43 in 1846-7 and 45 in 1871. (fn. 5) In 1870 the building was enlarged and in 1871 an inspector reported that the accommodation was sufficient. (fn. 6)

In 1880 a school board of five members was compulsorily formed. (fn. 7) At first it hired the Church school for a small annual sum which was applied to the relief of the rates, but in 1895 it accepted complete transfer of the building. (fn. 8) In 1880 average attendance was only 23. It rose to 37 in 1893 and to 60 in 1899, and this in spite of the falling population. (fn. 9) In 1894 the school was enlarged to accommodate 95 children. (fn. 10) The annual government grant rose from £13 in 1872 to £47 in 1893 and £78 in 1902. (fn. 11)

Under the Education Act of 1902 the school passed under the administration of the Essex Education Committee, Ongar District. In 1904 there were 2 teachers and 68 pupils. (fn. 12) Average attendance fell to 33 in 1914 and to 24 in 1923, when the school was closed and the children transferred to the Abbess Roding school. (fn. 13) The former school has been converted into two dwellings, one a bungalow. The south end of the building consists of a two-story red-brick block with a gable-end facing the road. It was formerly the schoolmaster' house and was probably built for the purpose in the middle of the 19th century. The single-story schoolrooms, which originally extended farther north, have now been plastered.