A school called Puckle's, housed in an annexe at the West end of St. Nicholas Church in Laindon,
may well have been the first recognised school in the Basildon area. This was used during
Victorian times. The last Schoolmaster, James Hornsby, taught there for 48 years and is buried
in the churchyard nearby. Nicholas School - now Laindon Park - then a Board School, opened in
1876. A school in Vange situated near the former Zoo opened around 1858 and the present
Vange school dates from 1876.
In 1860 a School was built at Langdon Hills in the High Road at the top of Crown Hill. The
building still survives but the School was later resited at the foot of the hill though still
in High Road, Langdon Hills. The new School at Langdon Hills opened in 1911 and was still used
until the mid 1970s when a new school called Lincewood was built in Berry Lane to replace
it. The Langdon Hills building remains but is now used for a different
purpose. In 1909 a Board School at Pitsea opened in the High Road. The infant school was
later renamed Len Wastell in the early 2000s. The original Nevendon School in Burnt Mills Road built in 1886 as a National School
was demolished in 1972. The present building closed in 1983 and is now used as a learning
centre. In 1933 Markhams Chase (later renamed Janet Duke) opened.
Swan Mead, (later
renamed Cherry Tree), was the first new Infant & Junior School opened in Basildon following its
creation in 1949. This was in April 1954, and followed soon after by Whitmore Infant/Junior
in September 1954.
Many more schools have opened since those days like Manor
(later renamed Willows Primary), Bluehouse (later renamed The Phoenix Primary), Great Berry,
Ghyllgrove, Merrylands, Millhouse, and Ryedene, while others such as Springfield, Bryn, and Chowdhary have closed,
mainly as a result of low pupil numbers.
Text written 2001 with revisions 2002-2007.
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