Our information about early schools comes from fleeting references in documents or letters until the arrival of 'British' and 'National' schools in the early nineteenth century. Later in the century came provision for adults through literary institutes - and for all the community the founding of reading rooms and libraries. In the twentieth century state and private schools have thrived in Harpenden.
A School at Lower Top Street Farm
Memories of school before the Great War
Crowded Schools at Harpenden.
"Unsuited to present-day requirements" - Trains make teaching difficult: School Managers' complaint to County Council.
Early Days at Batford Nursery School
From Wartime Day Nursery to Ministry of Education Nursery School
Hardenwick School
Private Preparatory school for boys, Wordsworth Road 1898-1966
Hardenwick School at Sandridgebury
Memories of my time there from 1967 to 1971
Hardenwick School in the late 1940s
Memories of my time there from 1947-51- School Number 81
Harpenden British School
from W L Rogers Report on Social Conditions in Harpenden in 1858
Harpenden British Schools: Origin, History and Present Position of the Schools - in 1891
A paper read by the Honorary Secretary, Lieut.-Colonel Durnford, at a meeting of the Subscribers and Parents of Scholars, held on 18th of December 1891.
Harpenden Free Library
From the Red House to Harpenden Hall
Harpenden Hall
School for Girls, 1910-1923
Harpenden Musicale
40 years of music making in Harpenden
John Henshaw: A British Schools Headmaster
Derived from Harpenden Free Press articles, 1952 &1958 and "Harpenden British Schools" by Lieut.-Col. Durnford, 1891
Let's Play The Game
Hardenwick memories
Moreton End School
Compiled from the prospectus and notes in our archives
Mr I S Smith's Preparatory Academy, Harpenden
Was this on the corner of Church Green in the 1830s?
Mr Wix in Brampton and Harpenden
A Brief History of the Origins of St George's School
Park Hall
British School from 1850, Council Offices from 1898
School Days in the 1930's
Memories of St Nicholas, Victoria Road and Manland schools
St Dominic's School
From Bowers Cottage, via Harpenden Hall and The Welcombe Convent to purpose-built school
St John's School
Class of 1950 or 1951
St Margaret's Crossway
An orphange for "friendless little girls"
The Boys of Saint Hildas
A Forgotten Chapter in the Tale of a Well Known Local School
The First Schools in Harpenden
Private, informal and voluntary
The History of St Nicholas School
Celebrating the school's 150th anniversary in 2008, with some updates
The History of the Williams Church Music Trust
Music-making at The Bourne, 20 Salisbury Avenue
The Straw Hat and Education
from the Parish Magazine August 1960
Victoria Road Schools - 1897 - 1997
Harpenden's Board School - and new uses when the school moved to Manland
Walton House School
Memories of the Kindergarten at 18 Tennyson Road
Walton House School
My schooldays from 1943-1945