The Parochial School now known as Hall Orchard School

The first elementary school in Barrow was opened in 1859. It was sited on Church Street opposite the Holy Trinity Church graveyard and not far from the Round House.

The oldest surviving buildings from this Parochial School can be seen on the right-hand side of the school drive, opposite the Fourfold Pre School bungalow.

The Record Office in Leicester holds a set of plans for the building dated 1857 – 8. These show drawings for the school with proposed extensions and a Master’s House. The latter never materialised.

Reverend William Leighton Newman, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church is known to have visited the school in September 1863 and subsequently was very involved in its running.

Mr John Dixon was Principal Teacher in February 1864 assisted by paid Monitors, among whom were Henry Herod and Robert Reeve.

By November 1863 the school was very full. An HMI report remarked on overcrowding. In September 1871 a holiday was granted to celebrate the opening of the new infant room. There were then three classrooms.

Miss Catherine Booth took charge of the separate Infants Department in May 1873.

Attendance at school was often affected by children being required to carry out seasonal agricultural work. Potato planting, pea picking, hay making, harvesting and gleaning were recorded as reasons for absence.

The Factory Act which came into force in 1873 allowed some older pupils to attend school half time.

School fees were threepence per week, a sum which stretched some families’ budgets. When the Board School opened in 1880 it attracted pupil transfers to take advantage of the remission of fees.

In 1886 H.M.I. reported that “The children are diligently and overall, successfully, instructed.”