This article gives brief information on schools that cater for pupils up to the age of 11 in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire, England. Most are county maintained primary schools, sometimes known as "junior mixed infant" (JMI). A small number are voluntary aided church schools or independent (fee-paying). The Local Education Authority is Hertfordshire County Council.
Before the mid-20th century, the area contained a scattering of villages, with places such as Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring on the Gade and Bulbourne rivers. During the 19th century a Church of England national school was established in each town and village, supplemented by non-denominational British schools in Apsley, Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted. After the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), the British schools and some of the national schools passed to the control of school boards, while the remaining national schools were aided.
Schools across Hertfordshire were used as billets for soldiers during World War I, greatly disrupting their work. The population of several of the smaller villages declined in the inter-war years, and the smaller schools were closed in the late 1930s. The post-war years saw rapid expansion of the towns, especially Hemel Hempstead, which was designated as one of the first new towns. Many new schools were built at this time.
Hemel Hempstead
When school boards were abolished by the Education Act 1902, Hemel Hempstead was the only part of the county to exercise its right to act as an elementary education authority.
The town was designated one of the first wave of new towns in 1947, leading to a rapid expansion the small market town that swallowed neighbouring villages such as Apsley, Boxmoor and Leverstock Green. Most of the primary schools in the town date from this time.
Roman Catholic primary schools in the area serve as feeder schools to John F Kennedy Catholic School.
After a review of primary places in the town, the county council decided to amalgamate 3 pairs of schools in 2008.
South-east
Name Faith Type Gov Opened Intake DCSF number Ofsted number Web Coordinates Belswains – Primary CY 1949 30 2466 W Chambersbury – Primary CY 1954 30 2210 W Hobbs Hill Wood – Primary CY 1953 60 2469 W Leverstock Green CE Primary VC 1931 30 3054 W Lime Walk – Primary CY 30 2422 W Nash Mills CE Primary VA 1847 30 3302 W Reddings – Primary CY 30 2251 W St Albert the Great RC Primary VA 30 3391 W Tudor – Primary CY 30 2045 W Two Waters – Primary CY c. 1850 30 2044 W Woodfield – Special CY 7025 W
In the 19th century this area contained a number of mill towns along the River Gade. Nash Mills C of E Primary School was founded in 1847 by John Dickinson, who owned the local paper mills. The original flint built buildings still stand on Belswains Lane, adjacent to the modern site. Little is known about the school's early years; the early records may have been destroyed when the mill's offices were bombed during World War II. The earliest written record of the School is dated 1871.History of Our School , Nash Mills C of E Primary School.
Two Waters Primary School was originally a British school, founded by Non-conformists in the mid-19th century and was subsequently moved to the northern edge of Apsley, at the confluence of the Gade and River Bulbourne in March 1869. It was transferred to the local school board in 1870 and the school expanded into new buildings in 1878. A new school was built in 1913. It serves the Apsley district of Hemel Hempstead and is sited on the edge of the Manor Estate, on the southern edge of the town, where it was relocated in June 1976.History , Two Waters Primary School.
In the 1920s, part of the school was a selective central school. In World War II, evacuees from the cities increased the school roll and a double shift system was introduced to manage the numbers in the existing space. In 1941, Two Waters School absorbed the pupils of Wordsworth Junior Infants School from London.
Another early school was Apsley Manor School, which operated on Thorpe Street (now Avia Close) from 1857 until it was replaced by Belswains Primary School in 1949.
Chambersbury Primary School is located off Hill Common and also borders on Chambersbury Lane. The larger site includes Longdean School and Hobbs Hill Primary, but fencing has been installed to define each school's site and to deter use as a throughway. It serves part of the Bennetts End district of Hemel Hempstead.
Hobbs Hill Wood Primary School was completed in 1953 and was named after the woods that pre-dated the New Town. It serves North End Farm and parts of Bennetts End and Leverstock Green.
Woodfield School is a school for children with severe learning difficulties. It is sited in Leverstock Green and caters for all ages, including the primary age range.
North-east
Name Faith Type Gov Opened Intake DCSF number Ofsted number Web Coordinates Aycliffe Drive – Primary CY 45 2426 W Broadfield – Primary CY 1955 60 3991 W Brockswood – Primary CY 1978 30 2448 W George Street – Primary CY 1855 30 2040 W Hammond – Primary CY 30 2337 W Haywood Grove – Special CY 1996 7047 W Hobletts Manor – Infant CY 1952 60 2184 W Junior 2023 W Holtsmere End – Infant CY 1981 60 2995 W Junior 1976 2427 W Maple Grove – Primary CY 2008 30 3987 W Yewtree – Primary CY 2008 60 3988 W
There was a national school in the old town at least as early as 1932, rebuilt on George Street in 1855. In 1878 the infants department moved to Queen Street. The two schools were reunited as George Street Primary School in new building in 1969. There were also British schools in Marlowes from the 1830s until the late 19th century.
In 2007, Brockswood Primary School was one of four primary schools in England that were implicated in malpractice in the National Curriculum assessment tests taken by 11-year-olds. As a result, it was stripped of results in English, maths and science.
Broadfield Primary School was opened in January 2008 as the result of a voluntary amalgamation of the previous Infant and Junior Schools which originally opened in 1955.
In a re-organisation in 2008, Yewtree Primary School was formed from the amalgamation of Jupiter Drive and Bellgate Primary Schools on the Bellgate site. At the same time, Maple Grove Primary School was formed from the amalgamation of Barncroft and Eastbrook schools in the former Eastbrook Junior School site. The former Eastbrook Infants building is now occupied by Haywood Grove School, a special school for primary aged pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
West
Name Faith Type Gov Opened Intake DCSF number Ofsted number Web Coordinates Boxmoor – Primary CY 1842 30 2041 W Oakleaf – Infants CY 50 2193 W Junior 60 2185 W Gade Valley – JMI CY 1962 30 2274 W Galley Hill – Primary CY 2008 45 3990 W Heath Lane – Nursery CY 1942 80 1009 W Micklem – Primary CY 30 2243 W Pixies Hill – Primary (ex JMI) CY 1964 30 2293 W St Cuthbert Mayne RC Junior VA 1958 60 3386 W St Rose's RC Infants VA 1967 60 3409 W South Hill – Primary CY 1951 60 2047 W
The original school in Boxmoor was St John's national school, split between sites on Cowper Road and St John's Road. The school later passed to board control, and became Boxmoor Primary School. It moved into new buildings in 1974.Prospectus , Boxmoor Primary School.
Gade Valley JMI and Nursery School came into existence in 1982 when the previously separate Infant Junior schools merged. The school is sited on the boundary of the Gadebridge and Hammerfield districts in the north of the town.
In a re-organisation in 2008, Galley Hill Primary School was formed from the amalgamation of Martindale and Rossgate Primary Schools on the Rossgate site.
In 1964 Pixies Hill Primary School opened as Pixies Hill JMI School.
Berkhamsted
In Berkhamsted there operates a two-tier school system, comprising 2 infant schools, 1 junior school, 6 primary schools and a secondary school (Ashlyns School).
Name Faith Type Gov Opened Intake DCSF number Ofsted number Web Coordinates Bridgewater – Primary CY 1972 95 4144 W Greenway – Infant CY 1966 60 2326 W Potten End CE Primary VC 1856 30 3042 W Northchurch St Mary's CE Primary VA 1864 30 3315 W St Thomas More RC Primary VA 1966 30 3402 W Swing Gate – Infant CY 1968 30 2301 W Thomas Coram CE Junior VA 1970 95 4627 W Victoria CE Primary VA 1897 42 3314 W Westfield – Primary CY 1962 30 2288 W
A British school was established on the corner of Park View Road in 1834, becoming a board school in 1870 and renamed Park View School in 1948. It closed in 1971.
A national school was built in 1838 behind the courthouse, expanding to Gossoms End in 1844. The boys and girls schools moved to the new Victoria schools in 1898 and 1903 respectively. In 1945 these schools were reorganised as a mixed junior schoor and a secondary modern school (closed in 1951).
St Mary's VA C of E First School was founded in 1864 as a national school in the Northchurch part of Berkhamsted. The original building with its Victorian stained glass window remains in use for communal purposes with modern classrooms added in the 1960s. The school field borders the Grand Union Canal and encloses a section of the River Bulbourne.
In 1970 the town adopted the three-tier system, converting the existing primary schools to first schools and building three new middle schools. Two of these, Augustus Smith Middle School and Thomas Bourne Middle School, amalgamated in 1988 on the Augustus Smith site as Thomas Coram Middle School. The former Thomas Bourne building was purchased by Egerton Rothesay School. In 2014 the town reverted to a two tier system in line with the rest of Dacorum and Hertfordshire.
St Thomas More RC Primary School, situated in the Shootersway district adjacent to Greenway First and Nursery School, serves the parishes of Berkhamsted and Tring. It has just over 200 pupils and covers the full primary school age range.
Tring
Name Faith Type Gov Opened Intake DCSF number Ofsted number Web Coordinates Bishop Wood CE Junior VA 1842 60 3371 W Dundale – Primary CY 1968 30 2343 W Goldfield – Infants CY 60 2322 W Grove Road – Primary CY 1973 60 2436 W
Tring National School originally stood on Aylesbury Road in the middle of Tring, on the current site of Tring Library. In the 1930s the junior and secondary departments were re-organised as separate schools, though still occupying the same building. The senior school moved to the top of Mortimer Hill in 1956 as Tring School, while the junior school became Bishop Wood C of E Junior School.
Villages
Name Faith Type Gov Opened Intake DCSF number Ofsted number Web Coordinates Aldbury CE Primary VC 1856 10 3000 W Bovingdon – Primary CY 1927 60 2003 W Flamstead – Primary CY 1867 15 2031 W Gaddesden Row – JMI CY 1876 8 2032 W Great Gaddesden CE Primary VA 1855 13 3335 W Kings Langley – Primary CY 1838 60 2338 W Little Gaddesden CE Primary VA 1854 15 3352 W Long Marston CE Primary VA 1951 20 3373 W Markyate – Primary CY 30 2074 W St Bartholomew's, Wigginton CE Primary VA 1854 15 3380 W St Paul's, Chipperfield CE Primary VA c. 1840 30 3349 W
Gaddesden Row JMI School was established in 1876 to meet obligations imposed on the community by the Education Act 1876. Hertfordshire County Council acquired the property in 1957 and improved it, creating a modern two-room school in unspoilt farmland. The only surviving part of the original school is now offices for the Headteacher and Secretary. In 2001 a new kitchen replaced the old one and a third classroom was added.Our School History , Gaddesden Row JMI School.
Little Gaddesden CE Voluntary Aided Primary School was initially held in a large room at the Bridgewater Arms, moving to a new building in 1858.
The original Kings Langley School was built by John Dickinson in School Lane. The building is now The Cloisters. It was replaced by Kings Langley Primary School and Kings Langley School, the local secondary school, in 1987.