Bath Place National Schools

Many children in early Victorian England never went to school. More than half of them never learned to read or write. For many families, this was of little consequence; with no welfare state and many mouths to feed, their concern was to send their children out to work to earn whatever they could towards the family’s upkeep.

Churches started to run Sunday Schools, followed later by day schools, and by the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, all children under 12 had to go to school to learn to read, write and count properly. A school was often one large room for all pupils, supervised by one teacher, assisted by a pupil teacher and monitors chosen from amongst the older pupils. The teacher had to teach his or her assistants first so that they could then teach the other pupils.

In 1822 a school had been founded in Church Lane, that later transferred to Kenilworth Street in 1829. Ten years later, half the pupils were moved to the old workhouse in Court St and in 1846 the Kenilworth Street site closed. In 1851 the Court Street site was also closed and the school moved to temporary accommodation in Clemens Street. Finally, in 1859 the National Schools opened in Bath Place as “Leamington Priors All Saints Church of England Junior and Infants school.”

	Illustrated London News sketch This sketch shows the new school, built on the site of a former orchard in the new town, then known as Leamington Priors.
	ILN news cutting The opening of the National Schools on Thursday 3rd November 1859 was reported in the Illustrated London News. The report gives extensive details of the facilities and physical dimensions of the new accommodation.
	Plan This plan of the school shows the tiers of benches and desks where pupils sat to receive instruction from the teacher or monitor. Click on here for an oversize image in order to the plan in detail (330kb)
	Front Elevation The original plans and drawings for the school are held at County Record Office in Warwick. This elevation shows the facade from Bath Place. Separate entrances and playgrounds for boys and girls faced Lower Avenue at the rear of the building.