Wilfred Middlebrook, in The Changing Face Of Warminster, first written in 1960, updated in 1971, noted:
The old Sambourne Senior School has also got a new look, the high stone wall being replaced by a lower one of breeze blocks, topped by a wire mesh fence that gives a clearer view of the school buildings with their perpendicular windows and the flattened top-piece where the belfry used to be.
Today this is a primary school but an old scholar who left Sambourne in 1896 recalls the bad old days under the headmastership of Mr. Crispin. He was a man with harsh, brutal methods of teaching – cane, ruler and knuckles – though usually no part of the body escaped his blows, and his assistants followed his example. “Give it to him, Oliver,” he would shout, when Oliver was using the cane. When Mr. Crispin retired the Managers desired a more humane pedagogue, and got one who started off by letting the boys scramble for nuts in the playground. The change from brutality to kindness was too sudden and regarded as weakness – there were some young ruffians from the Common, Pound Street and West Street who did not hesitate in taking advantage of the situation. Discipline became bad, then worse, and the master left.
In those far-off days, boys from the Workhouse attended Sambourne School, dressed in long corduroy trousers often too big for them, long white smocks and heavy, ill-fitting boots. In later years, neat clothing was supplied to the boys of the Orphanage in Vicarage Street.
Perhaps the most popular headmaster in bygone days was Mr. James Bartlett. As one old scholar put it “the most interesting headmaster the boys could wish for, keen on ornithology and wild flowers and sports for boys, a very lovable Jimmy he was. He changed the attitude of teachers to scholars, changed hatred of school to a desire not to stay away. Playing hop almost died out in his time.”
In 1908, under the headmastership of Mr. Bartlett, the teaching staff consisted of Mr. Langdon, Miss Stone, Mr. Dufosee, Miss Smart, Miss Sims, Mr. Hawkins, Miss Beak and Mr. Victor Manley – the notes of the last named, on the history of Warminster, have done much to make this account of mine more complete.