Education
in Bladon
The first evidence of any education in Bladon was in 1774 when the rector reported that between ten and twelve children had been sent to school. There is no further evidence of any education in the village until 1808 when fifty-four children attended an endowed school which was a fee paying establishment where the pupils boarded. Discipline was usually very strict and fees were high. It is not known exactly how far away from Bladon this school was. Six of the children were paid for by the Hopkins charity, a sum of money left in 1643 by Peter Hopkins for the education fot he poor children. The others had to pay a weekly fee themselves.

By 1830 day school education had virtually ceased to exist and the only form of education available was from the Sunday School run jointly by the Anglicans and Methodists. After the classes the children would depart to their own places of worship. From 1831 to 1833 the Hopkins charity money was paid to the Sunday School.

A day school is reported to have started in 1834 and again in the early 1850s. they were both known as 'dame schools' as the were run by widowed ladies. One of them was led by an elderly lady called Mrs Ferrebee in a house which has now been demolished. Neither of the schools lasted very long and both were described as "most inefficient".

It was not until 1858 that the Duke of Marlborough built a village school and a home for the teachers just north west of the church. the building was originally designed for sixty-four children but by 1868 numbers had increased to seventy-two and by 1871 almost a hundred children were on the roll.

The school was enlarged in 1889 to accomodate the increasing number of children. In 1895 records show that one hundred and thirty-three chilren were attending the school on a daily basis.

At the present time there are approximately fifty-five children between the ages of five and eleven attending Bladon School under the direction of head teacher Mrs Sue Hawker.
Related link: Website of Bladon Primary School