Information taken from HARGRAVE - A LOCAL PERSPECTIVE.
May 2004

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‘The School is a neat flint built structure with a brick extension, having an average of forty-five scholars, who are in the care of a headmistress and two supplementary teachers’
Suffolk Chronicle  1914 

The National School, which was then it’s official title, was built in 1845 and attended by forty pupils.  It was enlarged in 1878 at the cost of £120 to the advantage of eighty pupils.  A copy of the agreement between The Managers of the Church of England School - Hargrave and Maria Margaret Todd head teacher made out in 1898 states her salary to be £63 per annum.  Mrs Todd taught at Hargrave for twenty-six years and part of that time her assistant was her daughter Trixie who taught at the school for forty years.  The gravestone in tribute to mother and daughter can be seen in Hargrave Churchyard.

Mrs Morley recalls being in ‘the Little Class’ and going to join the older pupils for prayers and hymns.  The organist was facing her and so was the back of the organ in which there was a hole through which she could see a pedal moving up and down.  This was so fascinating to the little girl that she forgot to sing and was reprimanded severely by her teacher.  Mrs Morley also vividly remembers another occasion, when the boy beside her made a mistake in his work and his excuse to the teacher was that “Irene Pask jogged me Miss”, whereupon the teacher marched round to the accused and instantly slapped her on the knuckles with a ruler.  Can you imagine the double distressful humiliation because of that untruth, and it was her birthday too!

During the war when a German aeroplane flew over Hargrave and Chevington dropping a load of incendiaries, one of which fell into the kitchen of nearby Bush House, Miss Rush the head teacher told how she ordered the children to get beneath their desks.  One considerate youngster, Dennis Plummer, poked out his head as she was still standing in the classroom, and implored her to get under a desk herself.

Perhaps there was little improvement in facilities at the school, since the extension because there was no recorded opposition to closure in 1947.  This may have been because no hot meals were provided!  The closure of Hargrave school started the custom of pupils travelling out of the village for their formal education.  They first walked to Chedburgh School, but by 1954 the school at Chedburgh was overcrowded so the juniors (children of eight to fourteen years) transferred to Chevington School.

Eventually, most children from Hargrave travelled by bus or taxi to Chevington Voluntary Controlled Primary School.  Pupils remember flying pieces of chalk, thrown by the visiting priest, which those sitting next to inattentive pupils needed to be adept at ducking, and they also remember the swimming pool that stayed open for pupils to use during the Summer holiday.  The three teacher school continued educating five to eleven year old children until 1971, when West Suffolk began the change to the three tier system of schools which exists today.  Hargrave and Chevington children went at first to the purpose built Westley Middle School in Bury St Edmunds, and two years later, pupils aged nine transferred to Horringer Court Middle School.  In spite of complaints from parents the eight o’clock till four-thirty pm. school day was now part of life for nine and ten year olds, along with the older students attending Upper School.

Chevington Voluntary Controlled Primary school was closed in 1989 together with Chedburgh, Whepsted, and Horringer schools.  What were the feelings of the parents and those five to eight year olds as they started towards the brand new bigger Ickworth Park Primary School at Horringer ?

However, classes have not been held totally within school buildings as we know them.  Early in the eighteenth century various charitable organisations organised lessons to teach workers who could not read.  As early as 1811 classes were held by the Methodists in a cottage in Hargrave.  Now, weekly classes are held in Chevington Village Hall.  These are very different and cover a variety of courses that run for ten weeks in the Autumn and Spring terms, organised by Hargrave Workers Education Association for local villagers.  They were started in 1993 by Margaret Slade.  Various courses have been sponsored by the Women’s Institute including the topics of art and canvas embroidery as well as informative monthly talks.  In 1988, as a result of a questionnaire distributed in Hargrave, a course entitled ‘An introduction to Word Processing’ was held in the Village Hall.

Readers will see from the Occupational Status chart, that in 1891 just over twenty per cent of the village population were in full time education compared with nearly twelve and one half per cent in 1999, when more students continue studying until they are eighteen years old or more.  The age profile shows that there were far more children under fifteen in Hargrave in 1891 but both years display a sharp decrease in the sixteen to seventeen age group.  Does this show disappointment with village life or a positive desire to explore and seek independence ?