Our Village School - Part 6
Major alterations in 1960 meant that the whole school emptied and classes were carried out in the Village Hall and Mission Room. This continued until March 1961 when the new hall was opened and two converted classrooms were reoccupied. The cost of these modernisations was about £15,000. By 1967 numbers had risen to 113 and school was organised into four classes, one of which was held in the Village Hall. Work started on land, also owned by the Town Estate Charity, on the opposite side of the road. The new building would provide an open-plan class unit for the infant and lower junior children. This was ready in July 1968 and resulted in the split site school which still remains and which, with great increases in local traffic, continues to provide challenges to staff, parents and pupils alike. One of the benefits was the large playing field attached to the new site providing much greater scope for school games and outdoor learning.
Village children have been joined by all children from the villages of Epwell, Swalcliffe and Tadmarton as the schools in those villages gradually closed. A bus service has continued to deliver children on a daily basis although with a greater degree of parental choice village children sometimes attend a different primary provision. Sibford School now offers private education from aged 3 – 18 years of age and attracts home buyers to the Sibfords who wish to take advantage of their specialised provision for their children.
The increase in the number of working mothers has also had an impact. Preschool Playgroups, which required parental support and fundraising, have largely given way to private or State Nursery Schools which can provide all-day care. In September 2010, the Department for Education introduced an entitlement to 15 hours of free childcare/nursery provision per week for all 3 and 4-year-olds in England. In 2013, it extended this to include 2-year-olds from disadvantaged families. In 2014 this provision was increased to 30 hours per week and in September 2025 this was further extended to include children aged 9 months to 3 years. Nursery provision is now available for children who will move into the Reception Class in the year in which they are five. In addition, Breakfast Club and after-school care provision provides wrap-around care for children who have working parents or carers and has become a requirement for many families. It has extended the school day for younger children and put an additional burden on the Primary School administration to recruit and retain suitable staff to run these sessions outside of school hours.
Maureen Hicks