Introduction

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In 1875 'The United School District of Loxton and Christon' was created to deal with the building and running of a school to be situated in Loxton. Erasmus Galton, the Lord of the Manor was the first chairman of the School Board.

The Public Works Loan Commissioners gave the Board a mortgage of £959 at 3½ % per annum. The annual repayments were to be spread over fifty years. The final payment was made on July 2 1928. Erasmus Galton leased the land for the School and Schoolhouse to the parish for a term of 200 years at a yearly rent of £4.

Messrs. Stephens and Gardiner, builders of Bristol, built the School and Schoolhouse in 1878. Inside the school there was one main room 24 feet x 17 feet, with two cloakrooms attached. Old School taken (ca. 1880)The boys' cloakroom was 10 feet x 6 feet and the girls 11 feet x 6 feet. A coal-fired stove heated the schoolroom. The boys and girls had separate privies (toilets) that were 54 feet away from the school buildings. The boys had a playground of 57 feet by 53 feet and the smaller, separate one for the girls was 36 feet by 66 feet.

The school opened on 27 October 1879, with 24 scholars, 16 girls and 8 boys, ages ranging from 4½ to 12 years. It has been suggested that the photograph alongside was taken to celebrate the opening but it is certainly (ca. 1880). When the school closed on 26 July 1963, there were just seven pupils, six of which were transferred to Weare V.C. Primary School.

From 1879 until 1931 the school took pupils from the age of five years to approximately twelve years. The official school leaving age was ten years, but if a pupil had made too few attendances he or she had to remain at school until they were thirteen years old. In 1931 the school became a junior school and on reaching the age of eleven the children were transferred to Winscombe Senior School. From 1951 until the school closed in 1963 all children above the age of 7 went to the Winscombe Woodborough School.

School Headmistresses :

Emma Robinson1879-1882
Eliza Curry1883-1893
E. NaishAugust 28-October 27 1893
Miss Hewett (temporary)November 13-December 22 1893
Amelia Knight1894-1899
Eliza Davey1899-1900
Mrs. Alice Wadsworth1900-1901(died)
Ethel Wadsworth1901-1908(daughter of Mrs Wadworth)
Laura ShortMay 11-November 12 1908
Mary Louisa Price (temporary) November 12-December 2 1908
Laura Short1908-1910
Jessie Hasnip1910-1913
Mrs.Lucy Dodds1913-1925
Sylvia Body1925-1933
L.A.Cox (temporary)April 1933
Florence Mapstone1933-1946
Mrs. Gwendoline Hack1946-1963

There are no existing records of salaries for the earlier Head Teachers, but in 1903 Miss Ethel Wadsworth at the age of 25 years, was paid £65 per annum. She lived in the School House rent-free and had an allowance of four tons of coal for use in the School House. A condition of her appointment was that she paid the assistant teacher out of her own salary. The assistant teacher was Miss Maggie Wadsworth, her sister, so the arrangement probably did not pose too many problems.

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