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Wescott Infant School > About us > History

The History of the School

Our school celebrated its centenary in 2006. In preparation for this we researched the history of Wescott School. If you have any information about any part of the school's history please contact the Head Teacher.

Originally a National School it was founded in 1825 and located in Rose Street Wokingham behind numbers 9-11. In 1901the population of the town has increased three-fold and most of the residents were in All Saints' Parish which was about to be expanded with a substantial group of houses in the fields around Easthampstead Road - Wokingham's first new housing estate. The National School could not be expanded and it was decided to build a new school on the site of the extended town.

The local vicar was included on the new Board at Wescott as Foundation Manager. Wescott Road Council School , named after Thomas Manley Wescott the first Mayor of Wokingham cost £56,500 to build and was opened on 8th January 1906catering for 222 children from 5 to 14.

The first Head Teacher was a Mr G.M.E. Fryer. There were 11 other teachers and 222 children on the register in the first month.

They celebrated Empire Day on 24th May when the whole school had a morning of special patriotic themed lessons. The morning ended at 11.45am when they gathered together to sing the School Song and then the National Anthem........then they were all allowed to go home for a 1/2 day holiday. Later in the year (May) 45 of the children enjoyed a day trip to London, with a visit to Madame Tussauds and the London Zoological Gardens.

The first teaching staff appointed in 1906 were:

Mr G.M.E Fryer (Headteacher)
Mr H.G. Vickers
Miss C.E. Kent
Miss L. Dowsett
Mr W.H.H. Lodge
Miss E. Lewis
Miss M. Butler
W.A Garwood
W. Alder (Mon)
E. Fielder (PT)
? Hawkins (PT)
E. Lush (PT)

Mr Fryer the Headteacher was paid a salary of £175 per year, and the caretaker Mr Butler was paid £1 per week.....and was allowed to take another job during the summer (unpaid) holiday period!

The school buildings were designed by the architect Edmund Fisher who was responsible for the design of a number of schools in the area including:

Cookham Rise Council School,
Alwyn Road Council School, Cookham,
Swallowfield Council School,
Lower Sandhurst Council School,
Priestwood Council School, Easthampstead,
East Ilsley Council School,
Windsor Boys Secondary School,
Abingdon Cookery and Manual Instruction Centre,
Wallingford Council School for Boys,
Waltham St Lawrence Council School,
Newbury County Girls School,
Three Mile Cross Council School,
Hungerford Council School,
Cholsey Council School,
Maidenhead County Girls School,
Lambourn Council School,
Wokingham Manual Instruction and Cookery Centre,
Thatcham Council School,
Childrey Council School,
Hermitage Council School,

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1906 and 1910
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The school was built by W.Watson builders of Ascot. The photograph below shows the building nearing completion during 1905.

Edmund Fisher's design allowed for classrooms which opened onto a central Hall, as opposed to the previous buildings which had one large Hall with moveable partitions to form class rooms when required. Originally Wescott combined both of these features. You can see a plan of the original school layout displayed and a timetable from the early days displayed in the corridor adjacent to the main reception area.

As the town grew and the system changed, Wescott was left to cater for over a hundred children from just under five to seven, when most of them go on to the nearby Westende School.