Schools in the Trumpington area, 1950s Ordnance Survey map annotated by Howard Slatter.
• education and schools in Trumpington, 17th-20th centuries (Shirley Brown)
• St Faith ‘ s School (Howard Slatter)
• the Perse Preparatory School (Edmund Brookes)
• Fawcett School (Ken Fletcher)
• my experience of the Church School (Margot Andrews)

The former Church School, from Grantchester Road. Photo: Andrew Roberts, August 2008.
The first schools in the village were funded by bequests from individuals such as William Austin (1679) and Thomas Allen (1681). The Austin bequest was for four poor children to be taught free of charge until they could easily read the Bible. This took effect in 1708, when the parish appointed a School Dame and it was possible to support 11 poor children. By the 1780s, there were c. 25 scholars out of 80 children in the parish and the Pemberton family had taken responsibility for the endowment. James Cuming was appointed Master in 1783 and remained in office until at least 1837. Girls as well as boys were enrolled from 1786. From the 1790s, education provision became more complex, with Cuming also running a boarding school and the vicar (Thomas Heckford) running a grammar school, while in the 1810s there were four dame schools, evening classes and a Sunday school.
There have been a number of education establishments in Trumpington since the early 19th century and the map shows the key locations. This growth reflects national developments in education, summarised by Howard Slatter.

After the Second World War, there was also a Farm School in Trumpington. Michael Hendy was told about this by Joe Clarke, who attended the school in the early 1960s. The Church Hall was used as a classroom and tractors and equipment were kept and used at Anstey Hall. Anstey Hall was at that time the HQ for a lot of the Ministry of Agriculture’s advisors as well as having the workshops for the experimental drainage unit, so it had a good resource for training purposes. The Farm School provided training to apprenticeship level, very much targeted on practical skills, ploughing, sowing, spraying, harvesting, as well as workshop skills including welding and general mechanics. Tom Parsons was farming Anstey Hall Farm, and allowed it to be used for examinations and tests; he also undertook some of the examining duties. The late Ken Benfield was the main lecturer specialising in engineering. He later became the principal of the much expanded farm school when it moved to its current site at Milton, now a branch of West Anglia Agricultural College.
Fawcett Primary School was established in 1989 by the combination of the infant and junior schools. The school has continued to extend and there are plans for further expansion as new housing developments are built in the southern fringe of Cambridge. A Children’s Centre was formally opened within the site on 13 November 2010. The original infants area is now the Cambridge Professional Development Centre (CPDC).

Entrance to St Faith’s school with St Faith’s house in the background. Photo: Howard Slatter, 2010.

Perse Preparatory School in the 2000s. Photo: Edmund Brookes, 2010.
The Victoria History of the Counties of England (1982). A History of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Volume VIII. Armingford and Thriplow Hundreds . Edited by C.R. Elrington. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research. ISBN 0-19-722757-0. Includes Trumpington .
Widnall, S.P. [Samuel Page] (1889). Reminiscences of Trumpington Fifty Years Ago . Grantchester: the Author.

Print of the National School, built 1843. From a photograph used by Percy Robinson during lectures in the 1920s-1940s.

The middle/top class at Trumpington Church of England School, c. 1947. Photo from David P. Stubbings.
Back row left to right:
Muriel Elbrow, Hazel Griffiths, Noel Cheesely, Elaine Tudor, – -, – –
First standing row, left to right:
David Stubbings, Raymond Cousins, Peter Edwards, Francis Shipp, – Michael? Carter, Stuart Mellany, Nigel -, – -, Terence Bates
Seated row, left to right:
Olive -?, – Warboys, Janet Shanks, Michael Shipp, Enid -, Mr E.G. Youngs (Headmaster), Richard? Cleeves, – -, Brian -, – –
Front row left to right:
Stanley? Chapman, Michael Cleeves, – -, Christopher Kite, Alan Wilson?, Nigel -, John Pitman, Keith Smith
Children running along Shelford Road, on their way to school, Trumpington, c. 1947. Photo: Reg Clarke.

Outside the gate of Trumpington Church School, 1948, Dianne Camps on left, June Newell on right. Photo: Dianne Fraser (née Camps).


Fawcett School Sports Day, 1982. Photo: Peter Dawson.
There has been no secondary school within Trumpington and secondary pupils have travelled to Sawston Village College or schools elsewhere in Cambridge. This will change in September 2015, when Trumpington Community College will open on Clay Farm, to the south of Long Road.

Fawcett Primary School. Photo: Andrew Roberts, August 2008.
Entrance to Fawcett Children’s Centre, November 2010. Source: Clare Wilkinson.
David Stubbings also remembers his time at the school in the 1940s. He says “I was taught by both Miss Burgess and Miss Lister. The former was lovely. After dinner she put the “babies”, i.e. the youngest infants, down for a sleep, and at afternoon break on a sunny day there would be an occasional bed propped up outside to dry! The beds were a simple metal frame supporting a canvas, embroidered hammock. Miss Burgess had a pre-war Morris 8 and a gang of us had to push start it at least once. Miss Lister would “rabbit punch” your upper arm if she was angry, very painful. With the advent of the new council houses, the number of children in the school increased and another teacher was employed. One was a stunning young lady who wore peep-toe high heeled shoes, and whose partner brought her to school each morning and kissed her passionately goodbye, as a row of heads rose above the school wall, and disappeared when they stopped! We were not used to public displays of affection in those days! The next teacher was Mrs Barnes who took the “top” class, whilst Mr Youngs did less teaching and more head masterly administration. He moved the top class to the rear room and the infants to the front.”


Julian Huppert MP at the opening of Fawcett Children’s Centre, 13 November 2010. Source: Clare Wilkinson.
Councillor Linda Oliver (Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council) at the opening of Fawcett Children’s Centre, 13 November 2010. Source: Clare Wilkinson.
