In 1852 the original part of the present St Giles' School was built on land given by Mrs Mary Howard and erected at her expense. The school was then conveyed to the Rector of the parish and his successors for ever. This lovely old photo, taken around 1880, shows children leaving the school.
St Giles School Pupils 1911Back Row 4th From Left Emily Ada Lisney Born 1904. Aged 7 or 8.
The normal school day was 9am to 4.30pm with eight weeks holiday a year. There were however, often problems with attendance as children could be kept at home to help with work such as haymaking and in bad weather attendance often dropped due to problems with travelling to school. Until 1925 when a new school was built in Langley Bottom, sixty children from the area were driven to school in a horse drawn wagon. In this photo taken in 1911, Emily Ada Lisney is pictured aged about 7 years old in the back row 4th from the left.
In 2002 St Giles' School celebrated it's 150th Anniversary with a special Victorian Day and church service at St Giles Church.
St Giles School 150th Anniversary