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Then in 1963 - Nunthorpe’s village infants school, built in 1902 by Sir Arthur Dorman, closed it doors for the last time yesterday. The staff and the 100 infants will now be transferred to the new primary school in The Avenue.

During the past 61 years, development in Nunthorpe has centred in the Nunthorpe station area, well away from the old school. In recent years many children have been faced with a two mile walk to and from 

In 1931 the school was taken over by the Parochial Church Council and became a Church of England school, and in 1944 it came under the administration of the North Riding Education Committee.

Recognise any of these faces in the Class of 1953?

Back row L/R: Ian Millar; Donald Marr; Lloyd Metcalfe; Roger Anderson; Barry Little.

Middle Row: L/R: John Dowson; Anthony Lund; Stuart Robson; David Orrell; Jonathon White; Marjorie McGillicuddy; Carol Postgate; Jackie Shodbrook; Margaret Harrison; Susan Kirby; Judith Walton; Alan Dawson: Eric Gent; Ivor Frankland; Steven Lee.

Front Row: L/R: Gillian Pearey; Jean Dodds; Grace Almond; Elizabeth Lawn; Betty Wise: Dorothy Anderson; Evelyn Blackburn; Iris Beveridge; Shelia Purvis; Catherine Lawn; Ivy Blackburn; Dorothy Reynolds; Jean Allison; Judy Harris; Dinah Crooks; Joan Metcalfe; Margaret Shaw.

Far Right is Miss Edith Carter, Head Teacher who taught these 37 pupils ranging between the ages of 9 and 15 in three different sections in the same classroom.school and this is one of the main reasons for its closure.

Now in 1999 - In addition to The Avenue school other schools were established in Nunthorpe including - St Bernadette’s and Chandler’s Ridge both of which continue to cater for children in the area. At the time of the village school closure there was a move to establish a grammar school at Nunthorpe. Residents formed the Nunthorpe Association for the Advancement of State Education and under the chairmanship of Mr J.H. Corbett, argued that Nunthorpe children had to rely on grammar school places offered by other education authorities and unless there was a plan for a grammar school, children in Nunthorpe would suffer. Later a comprehensive school was opened at Swans Corner. The old village school is now a Health Club.

This article originally appeared in the June 1999 issue of Now & Then Magazine