The History of our School
Cranham School was founded in 1845 through the generosity of Mr. J. W. Lyon, Lord of the Manor. He also funded the building of the first classroom on the current site. In 1883 the school house was built and later a second larger classroom was built.
In the late 1800’s the playground was a stony yard with a flagpole in the middle, where the children would line up to go into class. After assembly the children had lessons in arithmetic, reading, writing, sewing and singing. Other lessons included studying animals, vegetables, minerals, recitations, physical exercise and and kindergarten games. Girls also had lessons in housewifery, which included ‘scrubbing’. Gardening lessons were added to the timetable in 1918 when the school was given an allotment.
By 1930, very little had changed in the way children were taught. School started at 9.00am and finished at 3.45pm. In 1933 the school became a primary school. Following major concerns regarding sanitation, the school became Church of England Voluntary Aided in 1951. The support of the diocese and the community raised money to improve the toilets and kept the school from being controlled by the Local Education Authority.
By the end of the 1960s, the demand for school places rose rapidly. With the school becoming full, a ‘temporary’ classroom was erected in the school playground.
This was eventually removed in 2001 as part of work to link the old school house and original classrooms together. Improvement work included building indoor toilets and having a new entrance area and school office. The new entrance was officially opened by the Rt Rev. Bishop of Gloucester and the Headteacher, Mrs Jan Thompson, on 24th May 2002.
In the 21st century, the school improved its facilities further with grateful thanks to the hard work and fundraising support of the ‘Friends of Cranham School’.
Improved kitchen facilities were installed in 2009 and updated in 2014 and Class One had a new outdoor area and shelter built in 2010.
The Friends of Cranham School (FOCS) continue to work hard to raise funds towards school improvement, helping the team here make the most of our small but beautiful premises; we look forward to a bright and exciting future for our children and local community...
An advantage of social media and learning our own history ( by Isabel Y5)
Family Connections (by Maddox and Sienna)
Maddox and Sienna are the third generation in their family to attend Cranham school and both their Grandma and Grandad attended Cranham school long before they were even a couple!
Their Great Grandma, Aileen Whitaker also worked at Cranham school as a supply teacher when Chloe (Maddox & Sienna’s Mum) & her two brothers attended the school.
Aileen and her husband Paul were both Parish councillors in Cranham and lived their whole married life running Overtown Farm, which is now in the hands of their son Martin (Maddox & Sienna's Great Uncle & Sylvia’s Grandad); they even used to host Cranham Feast on the farm which back in those days even had Danter's funfair and was a huge event not just for Cranham but also brought in lots of people from other areas too.
Below is a picture with Martin Whitaker and Paul Whitaker from the Cranham Book.
In the Village Hall, the clock on the wall is engraved with Paul Whitaker's name (third from left) for all the work and maintenance he did over the years to keep it in good working order and to mark his time as parish councillor.
On the other side of the family, Howard Smith and Marjorie Smith also were active members of the community and again in the Village Hall a photo is displayed showing Maddox & Sienna's great grandfather helping to plant a tree to commentate the queens jubilee.
(Howard Smith is in the middle)
Below is a photo from 1992 which has a few faces who you may recognise...
Can you spot Maddox and Sienna's mum? Can you spot Lilli, James and George's mum? Can you spot Florence and Rory's dad? Can you spot Oliver and Josh's dad?
By Maddox and Sienna