Schools
Since 1980, when Tasburgh's school moved to its current site, Preston CE VC Primary School has reflected not only the name of its Victorian founder, the Rev. Henry Preston, but also its on-going links to the Church of England. The school is now affiliated with the similar Saxlingham Nethergate CE VC Primary School and both are members of the Tas Valley Church Schools Federation, sharing an executive head as well as a school mini bus to facilitate joint activities.
In the late 18th Century the Sunday School Movement promoted the education of working children, but whether a Sunday School operated in the village before the arrival of the Rev. Henry Preston in 1836 seems doubtful because for the previous 40 years Tasburgh had no resident rector. By then however the National Society for Promoting Religious Education had for 25 years been encouraging parishes and clergy to apply for grants to build schools. After completing his new Rectory next to the Church the Rev. Henry Preston turned his attention to building a school on adjoining land but even before it opened in 1844 it seems that he may have been promoting the education of village children because the 1841 census records that living in one half of the old rectory was a 25 year old schoolmaster, Charles Feltham. How much Henry Preston may have himself contributed to the building cost isn't recorded but it is known that in addition to any grant, a liberal donation was received from the then Queen Dowager, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, widow of King William IV.
It may be that Charles Feltham became the first teacher at the new school when it opened three years later with 62 pupils some of whom would have walked from the neighbouring villages of Tharston and Flordon, but by the time of the next census in 1851 he was no longer resident in the village. However living in the new Rectory with Henry Preston and his wife was a teacher, Eliza Goddard, and White's Directory entry for Tasburgh in 1854 names her as the Schoolmistress, as does Craven's Norfolk Directory two years later when she was described as a National Schoolmistress with 52 children. By 1861 however it seems that she had also moved on because the census that year refers to Hannah Wilton as Schoolmistress. The first "home grown" schoolmistress we know of was Anna Cann in 1871 who had previously been a pupil at the school. She was the daughter of the first postmistress, who herself was therefore likely to have had an education. Anna was 23 and as there was no more senior teacher recorded in the village at that time it is possible that she was running the school with the assistance of another former pupil, 16 year old Anna Fordham, who was described as a school teacher.
At that time education was neither compulsory nor free and parents often had to pay a penny or two to send their children to school which some would have been unable to afford. However Kelly's Directory for 1869 refers to Tasburgh's National School being supported by the Rector so perhaps Henry Preston helped pay for the poorest. Although the Primary Education Act of 1870 had made provision for elementary education, attendance didn't become free or compulsory until 1880 when the leaving age was set at 10, later increased to 12 in 1899. It was probably because of those changes rather than any increase in the size of the village population that the school building had to be enlarged first to cater for 100 children and then again in 1899 to provide a new classroom for 30 infants. One teacher who features in the census returns from 1881 onwards was Esther Jane Hammond, a 29 year old school mistress. The following year she married the village postmaster, George Kirby, and over the next eight years had 6 children before returning to teaching. By 1901 she
was head schoolmistress, a post she held until her retirement around the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. She would have known and taught many of the 70 or so young men from Tasburgh who signed up to serve, some of whom never returned.
The school logbook dating from 1922 was a record of all the day-to-day events at the school, including naming the important people who visited the school such as the school's generous benefactor Sir Charles Harvey of Rainthorpe Hall who paid for school outings by train to the seaside and allowed school concerts to be held in the theatre at Rainthorpe.The logbook also highlights the many problems encountered on a daily basis, ranging from the difficulties of heating the building in freezing temperatures to dealing with naughty pupils. One such incident took place in November 1927 when 3 boys (Harold Riches, Arthur Hurry and Fred Larter) each received 'our strokes on hands and buttocks for milking Mr Curson's cow when standing in a meadow … and for telling lies about it.'
William Moore's booklet Hard Times and Humour – Tasburgh 1939-1970 is a rich source of information for the war years from 1939-45. He recalls the first impact of the war on the school children - the siren sounded at 8.45 a.m. on Monday 4th September 1939, and he and other frightened children were sent home from school until further notice, but perhaps the biggest impact on the school was the arrival of evacuee children from London, especially after Tasburgh Hall had been taken over for their occupation.
The head teacher during the war was Mrs Cross, whose husband ran Hall Farm opposite Tasburgh Hall, and she was assisted by Miss Hewitt who travelled each day from Horsham St. Faiths on her motorbike and was in charge of the 5 to 8 year olds. The arrival of evacuees meant that Mrs Cross was for a while teaching 70 pupils and to accommodate the increased numbers, Tasburgh children attended school in the morning and the evacuees in the afternoon switching on alternate weeks. In due course most of evacuees were taught at Tasburgh Hall by additional teachers who were employed for that purpose. For those children it must have been a time of great stress and anxiety, and football matches, cricket matches and Christmas parties were organised to help them feel part of the Tasburgh community and to integrate with the local children in the absence of their families.
The effect of food rationing on the school children was carefully monitored, with each child receiving 1/3 of a pint of milk every day and cod liver oil or malt extract supplements where considered necessary. There were regular visits to the school by the school nurse and twice a year from the school doctor and dentist to ensure children were as healthy as possible during those challenging times. Although the main school room had been divided into two classrooms by a sliding partition, other facilities at the school had little changed from its foundation. The outside toilets were very rudimentary and were emptied daily by the caretaker, Jimmy Clark who lived in a cottage just below the school which has since been demolished. Water was fetched in buckets from Mr Clark's pumped well or from the Rectory, and as there was no electricity, lighting was from hanging paraffin lamps and heating from open coal fires and a smokey cast iron stove.
In the decade after the War changes started to be made to the school. Two cloakrooms were added, along with a scullery from which school meals were served. These were delivered to the school from Newton Flotman and served by the local dinner ladies, usually mothers with children at the school. Mrs Cross was followed as headmistress by Miss Bone, a disciplinarian whose traditional teaching methods were increasingly out of step with other teachers such as Mrs Phillipo and particularly the young Dyan McKelvey who after spending time at the school as part of her teacher training course at Keswick College was taken on in 1967 to teach the 5 to 8 year olds. By then the number of children at the school was rapidly increasing as a result of widespread new building in the village after 1961 but the
County Council's initial solution to the overcrowding was simply to install two temporary or mobile classrooms in the already small playground. At their peak the numbers reached 120 children, having been only 57 in 1959. The pressure on numbers was eased when Norfolk's education system changed from Primary and Secondary schools to First, Middle and High schools, after which Tasburgh's 8 to11 year olds were bussed to St Mary's Middle School in Long Stratton.
After Miss Bone's retirement, Mr Ramm was appointed as the new head teacher and his time at Tasburgh is recorded in a photograph dated 1975, when a Victorian Day at the school commemorated the 130th anniversary of the school. It was during his headship that a decision was made by Norfolk County Council to build a new school in Tasburgh as part of the Wilcon Churchfields development, but it was Mr Ramm's successor Mrs Dix who organised the move with the help of staff and parents. The old school closed on Wednesday 21st May 1980, two days before half term much to the delight of its 65 pupils, and reopened in its new premises on Monday 2nd June, followed by an official opening by the Bishop of Norwich just over a year later. The original school building was then sold and converted to become The Old School House on Church Hill.
One of the early changes after the move was the introduction of a school uniform for the first time and the large playing field enabled games to be organised and proper sports days to be held. After eight years in charge Mrs Dix was followed by Mrs Towle as head teacher and then finally in about 1990 Mrs McKelvey became the head, a position she retained until her retirement in 2006. In the meantime Norfolk County Council's education system had reverted to just Primary and Secondary schools with pupils changing at the age of 11. This together with more housing in the village again put pressure on the size of the building, and as before the County Council's temporary solution was to provide a mobile classroom for the start of the 1997 Autumn term followed by two more mobiles for Autumn 1999, with work on a new extension getting underway in the following Spring. Rapid progress was made over the summer months and in October the old part of the building closed for refurbishment, but everything was ready for occupation after Christmas and on 13th March 2001 the new extension was formally opened by H.R.H. The Duchess of Gloucester.
The school and its children have been fortunate in benefitting from having had a settled leadership and teaching staff for many years. After Dyan Mckelvey's 16 years in charge Lesley Payne was Headteacher for 12 years before retiring in December 2021. Sue Bing, who lived in the village, was a teacher at the school for many years before becoming Deputy Head until her retirement in 2013 and her replacement, Georgina Rich, was in post for 10 years. The linking of the school with Saxlingham Nethergate Primary in 2019 led to a reorganisation of the leadership with Matt Walker appointed as the executive Head of both in 2022. However continuity was still in evidence with Jo Firman taking on the role of local Head having been at the school since 2012, but it wasn't just at leadership level that continuity applied because most of the teaching staff had been in post for 10 years or more and some of them were former pupils at the school.
As a C of E. foundation it is not surprising that the Church plays an important part in the life of the school. Members of the local Team Ministry visit to conduct weekly Bible readings and key religious events are celebrated. There are also visits to the nearby local church as part of the school's local history programme. In 2023 the newly appointed Bishop of Thetford began his announcement tour at the school which his children had attended and of which he had been chairman of the governors when he had been the last resident rector of the parish before leaving in 2002.
The title of the school's vision statement, "Living Life to the Full", is reflected in the breadth of experiences it seeks to offer children beyond the National Curriculum. The school has links to the Royal Shakespeare Association and the children participate in the annual Shakespeare festival at the Norwich Playhouse. It also has links to the Royal Opera House and in addition to visits to the Opera in London the children benefit from staff training in the use of ROH schemes as part of the school's music programme. Each year the school runs a Science week as well as an Art week in the summer, visiting galleries and inviting in local artists to help children with exhibitions of their own art work. The school also organises residential trips for years 3 and 4 pupils to either adventure or environmental institutions as well as days out to places of interest.
Although the name of the school will change in September 2026 to Tasburgh CE VC Primary School and the size of the school's four or five classes will fluctuate each year, it is hoped that its links to the Tas Valley Federation will help ensure that the school continues to be a central part of the life of the village, providing education and memories for its children as it has done since 1844.