History of the School

Our school was established in 1863 and so we celebrated our 150th anniversary in 2013! We collected information and photos from years past for our celebrations in 2013.

There has been a school in Canewdon since 1799 when it was decided by the Parish Vestry to build a small school and school house to educate parish children. This is the building now known as Vicarage Cottage. There are reports of a school being held in Canute House in the past.

The new premises were built on charity land in 1863 along with the current School House comprising two schoolrooms. There was a charge of 3d a week for each child or what the parents could afford. The Canewdon Educational Foundation (Trust) made funds available for items such as textbooks, slates and slate pencils. By the 1920s the school was severely overcrowded and two extra classrooms were built in 1930. With further expansion of the village it was necessary to build another extension in 1967.

A Nursery class was introduced to the school in September 1974. This was a single demountable building, which was subsequently extended to double its size in the summer of 1994. The Canewdon Educational Foundation (Trust) financed both the introduction and extension of the Nursery. A further extension was completed in 1993 to bring the school up to date. A new classroom was built where the old wooden hut used to be which also brought the junior boys toilets inside the school and provided an additional Special Needs/Resources/Library and an ICT suite. Another extension was completed in 1995 to modernise the administrative area. In 2004 further building work took place to extend the staff room and Head Teachers office and to create a separate ICT suite, Library and Special Needs room. We have recently replaced our windows and doors, purchased a new hall floor and re laid our car park.

A new Nursery build was completed in the Spring of 2007 and both playgrounds were remodelled.

Further historical information about the school can be found in Canewdon: a Pattern of Life through the Ages by Ken Smith and by the same author Canewdon a Record with Pictures Old and New, or by researching at The Essex Records Office situated in Southend Library.