Friday 9 December 1988
Sutton Veny School comes under the spotlight in a booklet written by one of its ex-headmasters.
Sutton Veny C.E. School 1850-1950 by David Chatterton is concerned with the whole spectrum of organized child education in the village. This Church of England school started life as a pair of converted cottages in Duck Street and was intended to take 40-60 children of mixed age and ability.
The original deed, dated 1850, that set up the school specified reading, writing, the rudiments of arithmetic, Holy Scripture according to the doctrine of the Church of England and knitting should all be taught.
In 1869 a British School was also established and was later linked with the Congregational Church in High Street; it closed in 1910, and the Church pulled down in 1971.
A new Church of England school was built in 1872 to replace the old one; that new building still remains as part of the existing school.
Mr. Chatterton then goes on to record many anecdotes of school life through the ages. Such as the half holiday in 1917 for picking blackberries – for the food production department. Folk dancing featured during the inter war years, and both the senior and junior shields were won at a local festival.
1931 saw a major change at the school when all the children 11 and over were transferred to the Avenue School in Warminster. At first transport was provided but later on the children had to cycle. Any child who used their own bike was paid half a crown, the local education authority supplied cycles to the others.
There are several old school group photographs in the booklet, as well as many line drawings by Betty Greenwood.
Mr. Chatterton was appointed head teacher at Sutton Veny in 1969, having taught at Nelson Haden Boys’ School in Trowbridge, where he lives, for the previous 6½ years.
He has just returned from a trip to Australia where he visited Hornsly Heights School in Sydney which has been corresponding with children at Sutton Veny for the last few years.
Sutton Veny C.E. School 1850-1950 is published by Wylye Valley Publications and priced at £2.50.