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A Short History of the School


The School was founded in 1840 for junior and senior boys only
and at some time there was also St Margaret's Girls' School in
Old Foundry Road.  Over the years the number of boys at the
school rose to between 200 and 240, the greater number being in
the Senior (Secondary) section, with the Junior section
consisting of two classes each containing boys of two year
groups.  For a number of years the School Governors wished to
reorganise the School as a Secondary School to serve the other
Church of England Schools in Ipswich, but the limitations of the
site made this impossible, let alone any other disadvantages.
Although the buildings were modernised and extended at the
beginning of this century, they were still not up to the
standards required by the 1944 Education Act, so a start on
further modernisation was made in 1957 when two classrooms and
toilet facilities were erected, the first stage of the total
rebuilding of the School.

By 1963 it had been decided to erect further new buildings and to
reorganise as a Primary School only, admitting infants and girls
for the first time in its history.  Building work started in the
early part of 1964 and the School began its new life as a mixed
Primary School in September of that year.  By that time the two
new junior classrooms were almost finished but work still
remained to be done on the two infant classrooms, their toilets
and cloakrooms.  The first Infants started in that September and
by early 1965 meals were being served on our own premises using
one of the old classrooms as a dining room.  Many of the old
buildings remained in use, including the old cloakrooms (for the
juniors) and the Gainsborough Hall.  At this stage, the School
buildings consisted of six new rooms, new toilets, new kitchen,
new infant cloakrooms, old junior cloakrooms, two old classrooms
(not used as such), various old out-buildings, an old room used
as a craft room and the Gainsborough Hall.  There was also a fair
sized playground and a small field at the rear.

Further building work started in April 1966, with the demolition
of all the remaining old buildings with the exception of the
Craftroom.  Work finished in the following November.  The new
buildings were dedicated by the Bishop of St. Edmundsbury and
Ipswich on Thursday, 16th March 1967.


At this time the buildings were supposed to be complete but the
then Headmaster was not satisfied with the provision of only two
Infant classrooms for three Infant years.  The Manager (as they
were then) finally succeeded in their application for a further
Infant classroom which opened in September 1970.

During 1992 further extensive work was carried out to the
buildings.  This work involved the erection of a new external
stair tower, the internal stairs were removed and replaced by two
large activity areas.  An actively area was also created for
Classes 1 and 2.  A new administration area consisting of school
office, Headteacher's room and entrance foyer was constructed at
the front of the school and the old entrance hall was converted
into a new library.  Finally, some interior re-modelling took
place which allowed for the creation of a music room and medical
inspection room.  This work was completed in March 1993 and
dedicated by the Diocesan Bishop in that same month.

The reorganised school, which originally opened in September 1964
with well under 100 children in three classes had grown to a
school of about 250 by 1970.  The school now admits 32 children
each year, giving a total maximum school roll of 224.

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