Lyneham School - The History
In 1716 Ralph Broome bequeathed £450 to the parish to provide for a school master, who was to be appointed by the trustees of the charity. Thirty poor children of Lyneham were to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic and the Christian religion according to the Church of England.

No more is known about the school until 1819 when forty one children attended, some of whom actually boarded in the master’s house. An old and infirm man assisted the schoolmaster and it was thought that the charity children were neglected. However, by 1834 the premises had improved containing a schoolroom and another 4 rooms. The average attendance in the summer was 20 pupils and in the winter this rose to 40. Day children and boarders were generally admitted at 6 years old and remained at the school until they were 12 years of age.

In 1835 additional fee-paying pupils, probably boarders, were taught in the school. In 1859 older children from the hamlet of Clack attended the school at Lyneham, while the younger children were taught by a young woman in a cottage. A few children went to a school at Christian Malford. By 1861 the National Society was united with the school and new buildings were provided. These were built at Church End, in Lyneham, opposite St Michael’s church.

The school log books begin on 13th February 1871 as all records from 1862 to February 1871 were destroyed in a fire on 2nd February. This was caused by Tom Cooper who had put hot ashes from the stove in the coal box, which he left on the stove surround with the side against a wooden cupboard.

The cupboard and all the books it contained were destroyed, the floor damaged, and upwards of 30 panes of glass - principally in the two large windows - were broken with the heat. The school building was the subject of several improvements and extensions over the last 30 years of the Victorian period. On 11th August 1871 part of the classroom-ceiling fell down frightening the class of children who were reading; repairs were made. The HMI reports had noted problems with the toilets, the dangers from an open ditch and insecure hedges providing no privacy for the school.

In March 1873 the toilets were given better foundations, and their east and south walls rebuilt and the floors re-laid. This work and other repairs to the school and school house were completed in April by Smith of Highway at a total cost of £5.2.4d. (£5.12p). The school clock was repaired in March 1874 but a different problem with it arose in February 1887 when the ladder, used when winding it up, was so weak that it would not take the master’s weight. The drains at the back of the school were providing problems in March 1876 and were taken up and partly re-laid with new pipes, but in 1885 sewage found its way into the well and in 1886 the drain near the well had to be taken up.

By December 1876 rain was pouring into the school in several places and in December the building was examined by Mr R. Beasant, who carried out repairs in April 1877 when the weather become dry enough for the work to be done. ‘Secret’ gutters had to be put in under the tiles to carry some water away from the walls. In September that year a new porch was erected at the east end of the school by Mr Lansdown of Wootton Bassett. The school clock continued to need repair on occasions and in May 1884 the school bell could not be used. Repairs to the bell and bell rope seem to have taken place regularly over the next six years. The headmaster, Mr Willoughby, seems to have painted the school walls himself on occasions as in the Harvest Holidays of 1885 and in 1894 when he also painted the doors and windows. Two ventilators were installed in the classroom in June 1889.

In June 1883 there are comments about the need for another room and another teacher. Nothing was done and in May 1891 Mr Willoughby wrote about the crowded conditions in the classroom where 39 children were taught when there was only space for 20. On 14th August 1891 a plan for a new infants’ room was discussed by parishioners meeting in the schoolroom and by October the school managers were awaiting tenders for the work. By April 1892 the building of the new room was well advanced and it was noted that the work did not disturb the running of the school. The coalhouse was cleared and whitewashed and used as a temporary girls’ cloakroom until the new infants’ room was completed on 21st May. In 1896 a new washhouse and coalhouse were constructed attached to the school.

Problems with the surface of the playground occurred over the years and often resulted in untidy and muddy classrooms. In March 1891, at a vestry meeting, several farmers complained about the rotten state of the playground and several rate payers said they would not pay their contributions unless the school managers put a coat of gravel on the playground and made other improvements. After the new infants’ room was built the playgrounds were re-laid by Edward Rendell in 1893. At the same time two poplar trees, a well-known landmark, and some yew trees were removed and shrubs planted to improve the southern end of the school gardens. The problems with the grounds, noted in 1871, do not seem to have been addressed until 1891 when David Hart cleared an old bank and planted a hawthorn hedge on the northern boundary. The planting of this hedge around the boys’ playground was completed in early March and a wire fence erected to protect it.

All these improvements cost money, which the school obtained in a variety of ways. £20 a year was received from Broom’s School Charity, the government provided an annual grant, dependent upon the HMI examination and this came to £83.2.0d (£83.10) in 1877, and parents paid one penny (0.4p) or two pence (0.8p) a week for each child. Parish rate payers also contributed; in 1874 the farmers volunteered to pay 1¼d in the pound and this they increased to 2d in 1875 paid to the united school funds of Lyneham and Bradenstoke - this raised £39 in total with £27 for Lyneham. In 1881 the subscription of the general rate payers was set at ¾d in the pound.

From 1871 to the end of the 19th century the HMI reports are uniformly good, with only a minor criticism in some years. This is fairly remarkable and must lie due to the efforts of the Willoughby family. Thomas Willoughby was master from 1864 until August 1900. He first worked with two pupil teachers, whom he had to teach outside school hours, and at different times these included his son, George, and daughter Anne. His wife later became sewing mistress and George helped at the school during his holidays from college and at other times when there were teaching vacancies. Anne became Assistant teacher in 1894 and remained until 1901. On the retirement of Mr and Mrs Willoughby a large number of friends and parishioners gathered to witness the presentation of an American organ to Mr Willoughby and a silver tea service to Mrs Willoughby, together with an illuminated address framed in oak. After teaching in other schools, since qualifying at Culham Training College, George Willoughby returned in September 1900 to take on the headmastership from his father.

Subjects taught in the school were the ‘3Rs’ of reading wiring and arithmetic along with singing, scripture and needlework, with the supplementary subjects of history and geography. By 1892 there were also Saturday evening classes in drawing and the science of agriculture. Older children studied algebra, while the arithmetical questions they answered in 1871 included, ‘What will be the rent of a house for 3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days at £3.13.6d a week?’, and, ‘If a horse can plough 24 acres in 3 days how many acres should 30 horses plough in 5 days at the same rate? They were also versed in compound long divisions, fractions and decimals.

Object lessons, particularly for the younger children were introduced and objects studied included, matches, the common snake, a lion, an elephant, snow, coffee, a cat, wheat, coal, a bird’s nest, fire and fishes.

In 1898 these were described thus, ‘A supply of objects for the children to see and handle is often felt in their lessons. The teachers obtain what illustrations they can and bring them to school; in this way the children are taught to observe and they retain information of a more lasting knowledge than by blackboard illustrations!

Annual holidays were; one to two weeks at Christmas, two days to a week at Easter, one week at Whitsun, and about five weeks Harvest Holiday in August and September. In 1879 the latter ran from the end of August to 6th October because of a late harvest. Full day and half day holidays were also given for special reasons, such as the festival of the Lyneham branch of the Wiltshire Friendly Society and when the school was used as a polling station for general and parish elections. In January 1879 the school was closed for a week, by order of the managers, to allow an entertainment to take place on three evenings to raise funds for the repair of the tenor bell in the church. In December 1892 many of the children went ‘Gooding’ (calling on people to collect money or gifts of food for Christmas), so that the school was closed early. June 22nd 1897 was given as a general holiday for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The children assembled in the playground at 1.00pm and, headed by the Swindon Band, processed through the village. At 2.00pm a large number of people assembled on the village green for a service conducted by the vicar. The children’s tea was at 3.00pm, the women’s at 4.00pm, and there was a supper for the men at 6.00pm. Sports were held in Mr Freegard’s croft and there was a large bonfire at 10.00pm. A holiday was also allowed on the following day.

There are far less seasonal absences then in many village schools and these were only for potato planting in April and potato picking in October. Bad weather caused low attendances, as often children did not have waterproof clothes and boots to venture out in stormy conditions. Heavy snowfalls caused the school to close between January 15th-30th 1879 when in the first week 70 men were at work clearing blocked roads in the parish.

It was closed again in February 1888 for 4 days and no vehicle passed through the parish from Sunday to Friday, while snowstorms and blizzards at other times caused low attendances as brought about school closure for a day or two. Stormy weather also lowered the numbers at school and in November 1894 severe floods meant that three children from Littlecot had to remain in the school house overnight as their father was unable to collect them in a trap.

The children suffered their fair share of illnesses with smallpox in November 1871, scarlet fever in January 1872, February 1893 when the school closed for two weeks, and September 1895, and scarletina in February 1884. Measles caused the closure of the school for two weeks in March 1882, four weeks in December/January 1888, and for six weeks in December/January 1897; whooping cough caused closure in May/June 1901 for three weeks and both diseases were common in other years. Two children died from diphtheria in 1884 while influenza, measles and German measles were about in some years.

Despite all the above attendance at the school seems to have been very good with an average of 76 in 1871/2 rising to 85, the highest ever, in 1873/4. It reached 96 in 1876/7 and in 1885 there seems to have been very little for Mr Sweeper, the attendance officer, to deal with at this school as the master reports on several visits saying “There was however no case for him to look up”.

In April 1886 Mr Willoughby wryly noted in the log book. ‘During the past 12 years the total number of absentees has been less than the number who will probably be absent at the government inspection this year.’ When Mr Willoughby retired it was stated that register contained 73 names in 1864 when he started, but that in more recent years it had averaged 100.

One interesting point was made in November 1891 when it was said that since the introduction of free education earlier in the year the attendance of the children had not been encouraging and the attendance had seldom been so irregular. No parent approached had appeared to be favourably disposed towards the new arrangement.

The average attendance was 27 infants and 76 mixed juniors in 1902. The infants were taught by an articled teacher, while the juniors were taught by a head teacher and two assistants. Wiltshire County Council had taken over the administration of the school by 1905. In 1953 a new county primary school was built on land to the south east of the old school, off Preston Lane. The infants remained in the old school until 1965 when a new infants’ school was built on the new site. In 1968 the total attendance at the two schools was about 860 from Lyneham and Bradenstoke; ninety per cent of these children had parents at the RAF base. In 2004 there were 300 children on the school register.

Information with thanks to Wiltshire County Council Archives

Lyneham Junior School
Mr David Sibun was the head of Lyneham Junior School for 19 years until July 2002 when he was selected to take the reins of Nursteed Community Primary School, which opened in September 2002. It was the first new primary school to be built in Devizes for at least 20 years and serves the new 270-home development to the east of Brickley Lane as well as adjoining areas. Mr Sibun, who lived in Bromham, had been the head of Lyneham Junior School for nearly two decades, proudly said: "Lyneham Junior School is a good school, with high academic standards and good staff, so it had to be something special to make me move."

His excellent rapport with family, friends and the local community was sorely missed. We recall the occasion when RAF Lyneham celebrated its 50th Anniversary and the children of the school proudly lined the local roads waving flags and cheering to meet HM Queen Elizabeth II during her visit. Even the rain stepped aside when the Queen visited the children at St Michael and All Angels church more.. Mr Ian Tucker took over as the new head teacher in September 2002.