Bourne Abbey Church of England
Primary Academy

(FORMERLY THE ABBEY PRIMARY SCHOOL)

Education available to all is a comparatively recent innovation in England and it was not until the Education Act of 1870 that elementary schools were built and run by the state and local school boards appointed to supervise their running and empowered to levy a rate for this purpose. This was a major social change that has evolved into what we know today as the state education system although conditions have drastically changed since Victorian times. 

In December 1874, a board of five members was created in Bourne consisting of John Roberts, the Rev William Orton (Baptist), Thomas Mays (for the dissenters), Charles Glover, Stephen Andrews and John Bell, clerk, and its first task was to begin the construction of a new elementary school. The board purchased an orchard in Star Lane [now Abbey Road] from Mrs Matilda Arnold at a cost of £125 per rood for the building of a school and a master's residence.

Thirteen architects submitted designs for consideration but the contract was awarded to Charles Bell of 4 Union Court, Old Broad Street, London, and the construction was carried out by Messrs Priest of Grantham at a cost of £3,727. It opened in July 1877 as the Star Lane Board School with room for 480 children, both boys and girls.

The premises became the main centre for elementary education in the town, superseding the old National School in North Street although these premises were used for a period to provide technical education for selected pupils supervised by a local committee working in conjunction with the county council. John Derry was appointed headmaster of the boys' school at a salary of £80 a year and Miss Readwin, headmistress of the girls' and infants' school.

It is worth noting that the village school at Twenty, four miles east of Bourne, was built in 1876 at a cost of £1,174 with room for 60 pupils, by the same architect and builder who also used similar distinctive yellow bricks and blue slate popular for institutional buildings during the mid-19th century. The average attendance at the new Board School, as it was known, during the ensuing years was 350 but numbers steadily increased to 500 by the turn of the century and the premises were enlarged to accommodate the additional children in 1892 and again in 1894. There was a further extension in 1901 with the aim of eventually providing classroom space for 700 children although this turned out to be an optimistic forecast. In September 1930, the school was renamed Bourne Council School with departments for juniors and a senior department for children aged 11 plus..

Today, the Abbey Primary is a large, mixed nursery, infant and junior school although the original buildings of 1877 can still be seen with separate entrance doors marked Boys and Girls while the stone tablet bearing the crest and the motto Vigila et ora or Watch and Pray remains on the front wall. The premises however have been extensively modernised over the years with new extensions built during the early 1960s and mid 1980s and a further addition of three infant and two junior classes and a technology room was completed in the 1990s.

Apart from the well equipped classrooms, there are two large halls used for assemblies, physical education and drama lessons, concerts and musical presentations while the school also has an active Kindergarten and extensive hard and grassed areas for play and outdoor games. The current IT provision is among the best in Lincolnshire with an interactive DVD as part of the school’s prospectus and pupils have their own web site on the Internet of a very high quality, well designed and easy to read and navigate and additional pages are being added showing the work of each year group and community links.

There was a landmark in the history of the school in June 1991 when it was named as the first primary in Britain to become grant maintained and pupils and staff received a surprise visit from the then Secretary of State for Education Kenneth Clarke to mark the occasion, and has since become a foundation school, a far cry from those Board School days of a century ago.

The school celebrated 130 years of its history in 2007 with the raising of a new flag. It was unfurled on a flagpole in the playground at a special ceremony on Wednesday 26th September by John Kirkman, chairman of the governors, with the entire school in attendance. Head teacher, Cherry Edwards, told pupils: "This has been a school for 130 years and today you are making history." The flag was suggested by school governor Paul Gandy and many people were involved in its planning including members of the school council, Mrs Millie Deakin, grandmother of one of the pupils, local firm Bourne Services, school governor Mrs Jean Joyce and the Parent-Teacher and Family Association (PTFA).

In December 2007, the highest accolade possible was received from Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education), the government body responsible for the regular checks on the nation's schools. Inspectors had visited the Abbey Primary School the previous month and their report gave it a top grading of "outstanding" in all departments. For a large primary school with 620 pupils to achieve such a glowing report was regarded as an incredible achievement and a reflection not only on the tremendous job by school staff, but also on the boys and girls who attend as well as the governors who were also singled out for similar praise.

Head teacher Cherry Edwards was delighted. “We are exceptionally proud of our school and what has been achieved", she said. "Above all we are proud of our pupils. They are the stars of the school and of this report. The comments in the report pay tribute to their joy and love of learning.”

The school was one of only twelve in Lincolnshire to receive an "outstanding" rating and the inspection report was a catalogue of compliments to staff, governors and pupils. It said: “Pupils behave extremely well and make the most of what the school offers. They look forward to school, bring a great sense of goodwill and a desire to be part of everything. Pupils make exceptional progress overall because the curriculum is so well organised and the teaching excellent with Mrs Edwards showing exceptional leadership. The only area found for improvement was that the boys could be even better writers."

Chairman of the governors, John Kirkman, was suitably jubilant. "We are absolutely delighted that the inspection has resulted in a report that publicly recognises the outstanding ethos and education provided at the school", he said. "It bears out the confidence we have in the leadership and vision of the head teacher, Mrs Cherry Edwards, and the hard work, skills and passionate commitment of the whole leadership team, teachers, support staff, parents and governors who have brought us to the stage where Ofsted describes us as an outstanding school that gives excellent value for money.”

The grading was regarded locally as a welcome development, not only for the school but also for Bourne, a reflection on the quality of life and another very good reason why so many couples with young families would wish to move there and live in such large numbers.

In 2008, the school changed its name and status to the Bourne Abbey Church of England Primary School and in 2010 major extensions were completed at a cost of £700,000 to provide a new block of three classrooms and a new kitchen and canteen facilities. The official opening was performed on Monday 27th September by Prince Edward, Earl of Essex, who cut a ceremonial ribbon and unveiled a commemorative plaque. The extensions also meant that the last of the school's mobile classrooms could be phased out.

There was a further major change in December 2010 when the school became the first in Lincolnshire to be granted academy status under new government education policy. This means that it is now publicly funded but free from local authority and national government control with other associated freedoms including the right to set pay and conditions for staff, the style of curriculum and the ability to change the length of term time and even school days. In other words, totally independent and new signs have already gone up announcing the change of status to the Bourne Abbey Church of England Primary Academy.

It was, said Mrs Edwards, the beginning of a new chapter for the school. “We are absolutely delighted to embrace this opportunity which will enable us continue to provide the very best education for our children. There will be no drastic changes but it will secure our future as an autonomous establishment, running our own payroll and finances with the governing body in charge of employment.”

In June 2014, Mrs Edwards was made an OBE for services to education in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Then, three months later, in September 2014, the school was selected to become a National Teaching School and would take a leading role in recruiting and training new entrants in the profession, identifying leadership potential and providing support for other schools. The scheme was introduced in this country in 2011 to provide initial teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers at all stages of their career. Charlie Taylor, the Chief Executive of the National College for Teacher Training, said that the school had been recognised as a centre of excellence ion its area with an outstanding performance and a track record of raising standards through supporting other schools.

REVISED AUGUST 2016