In the 1850s Brampton Bryan had a free School for Boys and girls; believed to have been held in a cottage near the village green.
The present school and schoolhouse date from 1860. At first there was one room and a smaller one; the latter was the infant's room and used by the girls as a sewing room about 1901 a larger infants' classroom was erected at the west end of the building and the original small classroom was used later as a woodwork room.
The school has been fortunate in always having a piped water supply. In the records of 1903 it is stated that, owing to a severe frost, the pipes all burst.
The school playground is unusually spacious, and due to the courtesy of Major Harley and his family, an adjoining field can be used for games during school hours. Here rounders, football, cricket and athletics are practised by the children in charge of their teacher. The playground was not in a good condition at first, but of recent years it has been 'tarmacadamed'. There used to be a swing at one end and a maypole at the other. Dances and pageants were performed, especially on Empire Day, which was regularly celebrated. In the first quarter of the century there was also an annual school concert. At Christmas time the children are regularly given a party with entertainment or gifts from a gaily decorated Christmas tree, and themselves give an entertainment or sing carols.
The parents and grandparents of present-day children often mentioned the miles they walked to school, over the hills. Nowadays children are provided with transport; infants if they live more than two miles away, juniors and seniors if more than three miles away. The first school bus began in the 1920s.
At the beginning of the century, children who brought their midday meal with them, and often cooked bacon etc over the stove. Today of course, a well-cooked substantial piping hot two course meal is provided for them at a cost of 9 pence a meal.
Extract from the Womens' Institute Book on Brampton Bryan, 1955 (courtesy of the Harley Archive)