The top picture was taken at the school in North Hinksey Lane in 2000 and shows headteacher Duncan Spencer and some of his pupils celebrating a glowing Ofsted report. The history of education at North Hinksey can be traced back to 1857 when a school was built on glebe land next to the church. The school appears to have hit hard times in 1891, with the vicar, the Rev Harrison, described as “unbusinesslike in management”. The history of the school features in The Changing Faces of Botley and North Hinksey, two booklets in the series about Oxford and its suburbs, by John Hanson and Martin Harris. One pupil, George King, remembered his days there during the First World War – “I loved our little school, every lesson, every minute.”William Woodward never forgot his first day at school.

Source: The Times November 05, 2023 19:09 UTC