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Our History

A Brief History

Our school was founded in 1824 by Lord and Lady Sherborne. It started as a boys’ school and was operated out of, what is now, the village shop. The school building itself was opened on 15th September, 1868. It opened as a school for both boys and girls. You can still see the plaque today.

The 3rd Lord Sherborne – James Dutton, paid for the school to be built. It cost £1000.

The First Years 1868-1888

The school had 83 children, who were taught in one classroom (now Fox and Owl class)
The first Headmaster’s name was Mr Tyrell. He lived at the school with his family. His house was what is now the offices, music room and staff room.

There was also a night school. 24 children went to night school.
In 1877 Mr V Rose became Headteacher.
Children were taught different things than today. For example, girls were taught to milk cows and boys were taught to look after horses’ hooves.

1888-1908

The headteacher’s log book started in 1896

A measles epidemic closed the school for five weeks in 1996.

In 1897, some of the boys from our school followed hounds instead of attending school.

1904 :May 6th – School was closed owing to a Scarlet Fever epidemic. 1905: Feb. 14th – boys cautioned for smoking. Lord Sherborne gave prizes for good attendance, arithmetic and needlework.

June – New desks arrived from Glasgow.

June 23rd – A swallow’s nest was discovered on the premises (to this day swallows still build their nests in the school front porch).

1906:The school was enlarged in order to take in more pupils

1908 – 1918

  • 1910 March 18th Mr Rose and his daughter left the school with goodbyes exchanged
  • 1910 A holiday was given so that the new partition could be installed.
  • A new Headteacher is appointed in 1910: Mr G A Knowlson. He did not stay for long and was replaced by Mr Welch in 1913. He lasted even less time and was replaced by Harry Horace Demer in 1914
  • 1912 school closed for measles for two months
  • 1916 Edward Larner, s stonemason in the village and former pupil of the school, died in the first world war. He is commemorated on the village war memorial

1918 – 1938

  • In 1921-1922 a Sherborne football team was created.
  • On May 6th and 7th – school closed for Silver jubilee celebrations of the reign of HM King George V and Queen Mary. An oak tree was planted which still stands today

1938 – 1958

  • May 1942 – children were allowed to assist with the planting on the farms.
  • October 1942 – the school was closed for the potato harvest.
  • August 1946 – tragically Mr Demer died whilst on holiday
  • March 1947 – the school fuel supply ran out. Two days later, the worst blizzard in living memory struck. It took eight weeks for the snow to clear!
  • 1947 A new Headmaster was appointed called Mr Herrin. His son remembers: “In the corner of the playground were the remains of a war time air raid shelter which we were forbidden to enter. It was soon filled in after the war years.”
  • 1953- A flag-pole was erected at the bottom of the playground to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation
  • Myrtle Larner left her employment as an infant teacher.

1958 – 1978

  • In 1968, the staff, pupils and the governors, parents and guests gathered to celebrate the centenary of the school. George Dutton (Lord Sherborne) planted a magnolia tree in the school playground, to mark the event.
  • 1971 Mr Turner became the new Headteacher
  • Jason Connery attended Sherborne C of E Primary School during this period. He is the son of Diane Cilento and the actor Sean Connery.
  • The field was used for all sports despite the constant presence of cattle which had to be shooed away before such activity. Football or cricket with the ever present threat of the ball landing in or passing through a fresh cowpat, gave the game an extra dimension not normally encountered!

1978 – 1998

  • 1984 April,Mr Rodgers was confirmed as headmaster.
  • 1988 Junior classroom was decorated during the holidays
  • Autumn term started with 39 children on roll
  • Friends of the school held a car boot sale on the school playground The head teacher wrote a log about children being punished or having accidents in the reception class.
  • 1989-November, The National Trust invited the school children to assist in planting beech trees along the walk, recently opened in Sherborne park grounds.

1998 – 2018

  • The school had a succession of Headteachers and low attendance, before settling down under the stewardship of new Headteacher Mr Mike Pudifoot in 2007
  • 2008 The school joined the EU schools partnership program which began 20 years of successful exchanges and collaboration. A visit to the school was celebrated with Maypole dancing
  • 2016 A new Headteacher Mr John Moore was appointed
  • 2018 The school celebrated its 150th anniversary. A time capsule was buried in the school grounds and an orchard of 15 trees planted, one for each decade. A new magnolia tree was planted to replace the anniversary tree that had not survived.

2018-Present Day

  • In 2025 the school joined the Corinium Education Trust
  • In 2026 Mrs Rebecca Gray became Executive Headteacher
  • The school continues to be part of the Erasmus+ programme and this year ended a 3 year project Art for Hearts Sake which saw a group of children travel to Poland to take part in a play they had co-written. Mrs Flora Ellis has lead this project and the many before it, enabling many children the opportunity to visit European countries to work collaboratively with pupils from other schools.