Highfield School

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For the secondary school in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, see The Highfield School.

[edit] History

Stephen Ram of Ramford, County Wexford was a resident of Portswood Lodge (later Portswood House) in Highfield.^[1] Part of his estate included Small Gains Field which bordered Back Lane (now Church Lane). A deed of covenant from 1846 stated that he:

granted and conveyed two perches of land out of a piece named Small Gains Field and facing Back Lane to the minister and churchwardens of South Stoneham and their successors for a school for the education of children in the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the parish of South Stoneham and as a residence for the schoolmaster or schoolmistress.^[1]

The school was opened in 1849, with a building to house the schoolmaster and one classroom.^[1] As Highfield grew and became an independent parish in its own right, additional classrooms were added. A report in a Victorial logbook of 1869 stated that the school was "short" due to haymaking.^[1] The school was originally funded through subscriptions and government grants in a system known as "school pence".^[1]

During the second world war, the headmaster, Harry Leggett, was awarded the MBE for leading a rescue of a woman trapped in a bombed house.^[1]

In 1970, juniors from the school marched from the Church Lane premises to a new school building in Hawthorn Road, designed by architect Colin Hewett. The infants, who were at that stage taught in temporary huts on Southampton Common, were moved into the Church Lane buildings.^[1]

In 1985 two hornbeam trees were planted near the junction of Highfield Lane and Cranford Way in memory of Mollie Bennett who spent her entire 46-year career teaching at the school.^[1] The daughter of headmaster John Bennett, Mollie died in 1983 aged 101.^[1]