On 1 January 1828, lessons in English, French, Latin, writing and arithmetic were made available to boys aged 4–8 at a then substantial price of £15 per annum by Mrs and Miss Fletcher. The school in their private residence was exclusively for boarders and did not use corporal punishment. An endowment made by Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon in 1850 allowed a purchase of land in the centre of the village, where a small infant school was built. Construction of a larger, better equipped facility ensued in 1867, with separate classrooms for the boys and the girls. This national school came under scrutiny after the master, William Walmeley, "cruelly assaulted one of his scholars" in 1873, for which he was fined two guineas.
