The Village School with the
Schoolmaster's House on the left
(click on the picture above to enlarge)
An unlicensed schoolmaster teaching in Dullingham in 1578 was dismissed in 1580 for irreverence to the sacrament. The parish again had a schoolmaster in 1590.The village was left £5 per year in 1676 to teach poor boys grammar.
The school was kept in 1749 in the south chapel of the church. In 1807 records show it was held in the vestry - probably the same place. Two smaller schools were teaching reading in 1818, and in 1833 there were two day-schools with 30 pupils.
A school board was formed in 1875 and a new school, with a master’s house and separate rooms for infants and older children, east of the King’s Head crossroads was opened in 1878. Attendance rose from 99 in 1984 to 137 in 1903. A new classroom was added in 1902.
Attendance fell from 106 in 1914 to 44 by 1938. From 1947 the older children from Dullingham went to Bottisham Village College but the school was still open for younger pupils in 1976.
School Treats (Extract from Dullingham Yesterdays by Peter Jeffery)
From the Cambridge Chronicle, 17th August 1850 - Thursday last was a grand gala day with the children belonging to the Village School. They started from the School House at 4 o'clock in the afternoon (with their colours flying) for the residence of the Rev. Dr. Banks, where they were regaled with tea, wine, plum cake etc to their hearts' content.
Several of the principal inhabitants of the place were enabled to accept of the vicar's kind invitation to the Vicarage and were highly delighted with the behaviour of the children who enjoyed themselves in all sorts of juvenile games in the grass field in the front of the house till past 8 o'clock. They were assembled together and sung the evening Hymn and, after giving a hearty cheer for their kind pastor, retired delighted with their afternoon's amusement.
A similar event in May 1858 ended with 'the Vicar exhibiting with the aid of his magic lantern, a number of amusing scenes.'
Twenty year later, with the new school open, a total of 190 children 'sat down to a substantial spread provided for them by the Vicar, squire and farmers of the village' before playing games in a nearby field until 9 o'clock that evening.