Paul Macdonald writing in The Warminster Digest, May 1997:
“This school was opened today with an attendance off 44 morning and 48 afternoon. Miss Young from St. Denys’ House came to assist in instructing the children who appeared both neat and clean. Found some difficulty in arranging them in standards as many of them had never been to school before and others irregular in their attendance at other Parish schools from the distance they had to walk. Many mothers brought their children and expressed much pleasure at the opening,’ were the words that made up the first ever entry in Warminster’s St. John’s Church of England School Log Book on 15th April 1872.
One hundred and twenty five years later the school is still using the original school house as well as extensions and mobile classrooms, and the School Log Book is like a social history of the area. In November 1883 the log records that the school received new slates, while in 1903 Clara K. left school as her mother “wished her to go out to service.’ On the 3rd November 1914 the school was “closed indefinitely by order of the Urban Council as there are a number of cases of Fever and Diphtheria in the Town.’
The school played its part in the First World War when it was recorded on the 13th September 1915 that the “Registers were not marked until 2.20 this afternoon as a Division of Soldiers halted outside and the children were busy getting water for them.’ In 1916 the school closed for a day for the King’s visit to Warminster, whilst in 1918 it closed for a day in September for blackberrying! Other royalty mentioned in the school’s records include children staying behind late one day to watch the King and Queen of Afghanistan go by. In fact, with the school having been on the main trunk road from Bristol to Salisbury and Southampton until the by-pass, it witnessed many famous people go by.
The school played a major role in the Second World War, as it was recorded that the school term which was due to start on 18th September 1939 was delayed for two weeks to give time for the settlement of the evacuated children. During that war the children’s designated air raid shelter was the neighbouring St. John’s Church following an air raid warning on 4th July 1940.
The school’s connectionn with the army is well-recorded and linked to the history of the country. On the 13th April 1962 it is recorded “All Green Jacket pupils now left for Malaya’ (which was connected to the terrorist insurgency there and first made the SAS famous) to be replaced on 30th April, after the Easter holidays, by children from the Black Watch regiment.
It was in 1962 that the school roll exceeded 200. Throughout the early sixties the main entries in the log book were concerned with the weather affecting the ability of the school to function. In 1964 government changes meant that the school was no longer Church of England controlled but the school decided to keep the link with the church in its title. Today, the school’s headmaster is Richard Light and he is one of five teaching staff at Warminster’s smallest Junior and Infants’ School.