The Early Years
Tower Road Primary School was first opened to pupils on the 6th July 1895. Prior to this there was Holy Trinity National School on Spilsby Road in Boston which provided an education for a small number of children in the area. The late 19th century saw many school boards established to build schools as part of the rapid extension in the provision for education. Tower Road along with St. Nicholas were two of several new schools built in Boston at this time.
The school opened its doors to 213 children on July 6th. The School Governors decided to give the children the afternoon off as part of a celebration for the new school, along with a special tea and games. The school was divided into two parts an Infant and Junior section. The Infant Section was headed by Mrs. Newman the former head of the Holy Trinity National School, and the Junior Section by Mr. Arthur Crabtree.
The school was built to a series of national guidelines for schools and was very different to schools we have today. Toilets for children were all placed outside the school building in the play ground area. The playground was a large flat area that also had a shelter built along one side for use in inclement weather. Windows were purposefully placed high in the walls to avoid children being distracted by events outside the school. Even the teachers were segregated with a male and female staffroom. Within the classroom children sat in rows at their desks. The youngest children used a slate to write upon as paper was expensive. Later children were taught to write with a pen and paper. There were separate entrances for boys and girls to the school. Regulations also stated that coat pegs should be 12 inches apart. Despite all these regulations there was no school uniform at this time, early photographs show children attending in a variety of dress.
Children attended the school from the age of 4. Boys and girls were separated in the early years, this being the reason for two separate entrances. At playtimes children were also separated. Lessons, unlike today, were arranged according to the presumed needs of the children. In addition to other subjects girls were taught needlework and cooking. Boys were taught woodwork. On leaving the school, which many did at age fourteen, children would often go straight to work sometimes taking an apprenticeship. A few boys went on to the Grammar School, some girls went on to take places as teachers, but could only hold this post as long as they remained unmarried.
On entering school children would have their name, address and parents' details entered in the school log book. The school still has many of these and much of this data has now been computerized so that visiting guests and former pupils can locate their own past details quite quickly. On leaving the school details of the date and where the children moved to would also be recorded.
The site on Tower Road remained in use for many years, but as numbers of children grew due to the popularity of the school space became an increasing problem. Additional building was added to the site with some wooden classrooms sited at the side of the school and at the side of the playground. Later a kitchen and a dining area were built and children could have a hot meal provided at lunch time. By 1976 the original site was too small to accommodate all of the children so a second site was begun at Ashlawn Drive. It was planned that children would begin in their Reception Year at the Tower Road site and continue till the age of nine, then they would move to the new site for the final two years of their Primary Education at the new site. The new site consisted of a hall, office and six classrooms as well as a kitchen area. Numbers at the school continued to increase and additional temporary classrooms were added to accommodate the growing numbers of children. By 1990 the combination of continually growing numbers and the poor state of the original Victorian building resulted in a decision to build a new school. The original building had hardly changed since the 19th century and was becoming expensive to maintain and repair. The two sites had also gained some extra accommodation but this was mainly porta-cabins which were cold in Winter and very warm in the Summer. A decision was made to build a new school at the Ashlawn Drive site. This would incorporate the classrooms built in 1976 but would predominantly be a new school.
The new building was constructed by Lindum Construction and was begun in 1990. The new building comprised of twelve new classrooms, an extended hall, staff room and tv area. During the next year children began to transfer to the new site. It was by Autumn Term 1992 that all the children of Tower Road were on the one site at Ashlawn Drive. The new site was opened by Mr. R. Jenkinson, Chairman of Governors. The school celebrated with releasing 535 blue balloons and had a giant cake made with 535 candles.
The original site at Tower Road was eventually demolished in 1993. The old school provided us with many momentos of which the school bell is one. This was rescued from the site, cleaned and now hangs in Memory Lane which is where we house our records and history of the School. The site was then developed by the Longhurst Housing Association in 1994 for residential deveopment, and is known as Comer Close. This is named after Mr. G. Comer MBE, the Headmaster of the school from 1903-1944.
The school has continued to grow even from this date. Successive years have seen new projects to supply even more spaces for the growing numbers of children, but to also supply a high quality modern learning environment.
More recent developments.
1992 Two additional Reception Classrooms
1993 Two additional classrooms for Years 3 and 4
1994 Winners Way completed. An additional link to join two parts of the school, but also used to store the schools sporting achievements and trophies.
1995 Extension of the Office and school entrance area. The school celebrates 100 years of Primary Education.
1996 Tower Road's network of computers installed.
1999 New sports hall added with climbing wall added.
2000 Extension of Year 6 cloakrooms.
2001 Completion of the Techzone, Tower Road's computer centre. Reading Centre building begun.
Why are we called "TOWER ROAD" School when we are to be found in Ashlawn Drive? The school was named after Tower Road (formally Vauxhall Lane). Tower Road was named after the Rochford Tower which could be seen from the end of Vauxhall Lane. The Tower still stands today and can be see next to the ten-pin bowling alley in Rochford Tower Lane.
The Rochford Tower (sometimes known as Kymes Tower) was built in the reign of Henry Vll (1485-1509) and a house with a baronial hall adjoined to it. At some subsequent date the property passed to the Abbey of Westminster. Henry Vlll came to the throne in 1509, and in 1545 suppressed the religious houses and this property passed the Rochford family, later it passed to the Kyme family who were connected with the Kymes of South Kyme near to Sleaford. The old house was taken down in 1807 and a new house built in its place.
In the beginning- the first school to serve the children in the North-East of the town was Holy Trinity School which opened in 1840. In 1894, the Skirbeck School Board was formed and they took on he responsibility of building schools in "Skirbeck Quarter" including St. Nicholas' and Tower Road.
This is the entry in the school's first Log Book and it records Foundation Day, November 28th 1895.
"Foundation stone of the new school laid this afternoon, and the school given a half day holiday by the request of the Chairman and the Body.
The school has always celebrated many local and National events. Records and photographs record many of the celebrations that the school and its children partook in. The school was presented with a Union Flag by the Governing Body that was flown at the celebration of the Coronation of King GeorgeV in 1911. The picture shows the children celebrating outside the school with the Governing Body in the centre and the flag flying. The flag still remains today and is on display in Memory Lane. The Silver Jubilee was celebrated in 1935. Children are shown outside the school along with mugs which were given to each child on the day. The photograph only shows boys as there were two photographs taken, one for boys and one for girls. This year the school celebrated the Queen's Jubilee. The school celebrated with children attending dresses in red, white and blue. In addition children created displays around the school. The day was then celebrate din school with children having an ice cream and a" bouncy castle" hired for the day.
Sporting Success
Tower Road Primary School has always had a strong sporting tradition. Many of our records show children long ago achieving success. Many photographs record the successes and athletic prowess of its performances. Football was of course at the centre of sport at the beginning of this century. One of the school Governors, Mr. Woodthorpe donated a cup for a knockout football competition for the local schools in 1913. The Woodthorpe Cup has continued to be played for till this day. The school has continued to be very successful in this competition winning it most recently in 2002. The school also had one of its pupils represent England in 1913.
Horace Nelson School Team 192?
The school has expanded its sporting tradition over the years and a full range of sports are available to all children. Many individuals and teams have gone onto achieve success at many levels. These successes are recorded in our Winners' Way where our most recent trophies, awards and achievements are on display.
Our Open Days
We annually hold our Open Day for local residents, parents, past pupils and teachers and friends of the school. Please consult our diary for this year's date. The day is one where we have guides provided by the Year 6 children who give a guided tour of the school. In addition we have other activities such as the climbing wall challenge, musical performances and activities provided by classes throughout the school. Food and drink are provided upon the day and all visitors are invited to sign and complete comments in our visitors' book. We are pleased to welcome all visitors on the Open Day and at other times by appointment.
The school has a long history and with so many children passing through its doors there are many memories. We often have visitors bring information or artifacts and photographs relating to the school. These are most welcome and where possible, if people can donate a copy, these can be added to our permanent display or records. It is worth remembering that photographs are more informative if a date, name of occasion and names of people can be included.
Memories Staff photograph Mr. Comer and Staff. Early Staff and children.
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