History is all around us, the past leaves footprints everywhere.
Scattered across Kettering are old buildings which were once schools…
Types of Schools + A Timeline of the Schooling System
If you want to skip this section, click here.
1530s onwards – Parish Instruction
Parish priests or curates were expected to teach boys the catechism and basic literacy.
1570s – Grammar Schools
Endowed schools (like Kettering Grammar School, founded 1577) taught Latin and later broader subjects, usually for boys 11+.
Early 1700s – Charity Schools
Small church or society-funded schools gave poor children free lessons in reading, writing, religion, and (for girls) sewing.
1808 – British Schools
Set up by Non-Conformists, open to children of all denominations. Often used the monitorial system (older pupils helping to teach).
1811 – National Schools
These schools were run by the Church of England, through the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. This was founded in 1811, partly is response to the foundation of British Schools – the Church of England didn’t want religious influence over the poor to slip out of its hands.
1870 – School Boards
The Elementary Education Act of 1870 set up elected School Boards in towns and cities. These boards could build new schools wherever church schools (National or British) were not enough. The schools they ran were called Board Schools.
They gave basic education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and were open to all children, no matter what church (or chapel) their family attended.
Kettering School Board was formed in 1890.
1870 – Elementary Schools
“Elementary Schools” was an umbrella term for Board, British, and National Schools.
Late 1800s–Early 1900s – High Schools
Often for girls, but sometimes for boys; taught broader subjects and prepared older pupils (11–16/18) for jobs or further study. They were often functionally equivalent to Grammar Schools.
1902 Education Act
This Act abolished School Boards, and brought all schools (Board, National, British, and others) under local authority control for funding and inspection.
National Schools continued but were now classed as “provided” (Council) or “non-provided” (Voluntary Aided) schools.
Many still exist today as Church of England Voluntary Aided or Voluntary Controlled primary schools.
1944 – Grammar Schools and the 11-plus
The Butler Act (1944) reorganised education into three types: Grammar, Technical, and Secondary Modern. To decide who went where, children sat the 11-plus exam at age 11.
Grammar Schools became selective: only children who passed were allowed to attend, often with a path to university.
This replaced the older mix of local entry tests, scholarships, or fee-paying places.
1944 – Secondary Modern Schools
For most children after the 11-plus exam. Focused on practical skills and general education until school-leaving age.
1944 – Technical Schools
Technical Schools were supposed to give children a practical and scientific education, preparing them for jobs in engineering, building, design, or applied science.
They often taught subjects like metalwork, mechanics, and technical drawing at a higher level than Secondary Moderns.
1960s onwards – Comprehensive Schools
Brought all pupils together in one school, without the 11-plus, teaching a wide range of subjects up to 16 or 18.
Mixed, Boys, and Girls
There was a time that Junior and Senior Schools were expected to be single sex – as it sounds, Mixed would denote a school which was for both.
National Infants’ School
Church Walk
- Opened: 1820.
- Closed: After 1952.
- The latest reference I could find for this school was an Ordnance Survey Map of Kettering from 1952.
All the way back in 1535, the Parish Rector gave this order: “instruct the boys of the parish.”
This was carried out by his curates for centuries to come. Until the foundation of British and National Schools, this would have been through Charity Schools or Parish Schools.
While this was a Mixed School, being an Infants, it was still built in part to fulfil the Rector’s order.
Girls’ Charity School
National Girls’ School
National Senior Girls’ School
Market Hill
- Opened: Approx 1709.
- Closed: 1927.
Originally opened as a Charity School in the early 18th century, it taught around 20 girls for free.
The Girls’ Charity School was primarily endowed by Reverend Nathaniel Bridges (£300), with additional gifts from Sarah Haslewood (£10), Hephzibah Sanders (£10), and Martha Baker (£100 stock).
The Bridges family and Baker/Aldwinckle sisters acted as trustees and guardians.
It seems to have been at least partially a boarding school – one document describes how the girls were “clothed, lodged, and educated” at the expense of the charity.
Their curriculum was likely to be basic literacy, sewing/knitting, religious instruction. The aim was to make them literate enough to read the Bible, manage household accounts, and be fit for domestic service.
By 1834, the Charity School had become a day school, and had been taken over or replaced by the National Girls’ School.
In the 1890s, it became a Senior Girls’ School. This reflected legal and social changes which meant children were less likely to leave school to go into work.
The building was remodelled in 1909 to accommodate the growing population – note the now-missing arched door in the first picture.
It closed when it joined the Boys’ National School in Horsemarket, which became the Parish Church Mixed School.
British Mixed School
School Lane
- Opened: 1833.
- Closed: 1892.
When this school opened, the street didn’t even have a name! It was listed as being “near Silver Street.”
School Lane evidently got its name because it was … a lane … with a school.
This building has been extended or rebuilt over the years – brickwork is visibly different in different parts, and one date stone has the year 1874.
National Girls’ Upper School
Alexandra Street
- Opened: Before 1876.
- The earliest reference I could find for this school was in Harrod & Co’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1876) …
- Closed: Before 1903.
- … and it isn’t in Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1903).
The building has a new(ish) front, but if you look down the side you can see the older wall as it appeared in the 1884 map.
National Infants’ School
Buccleuch Street
- Opened: 1876.
- Closed: Before 1910.
- This school is not listed in Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1910).
The building is (probably) bigger than it looks – the school was for more than 100 pupils! And it is now an appliance shop.
While it closed as a National School before 1910, it’s possible it continued life as a private school – the Kelly’s Directory has a commercial listing for a Prep School in Buccleuch Street.
South College
The College
London Road
This school was attended by Kate Edith Pierce, the woman behind the modern library system.
It is now private homes.
Kettering Grammar School
Bowling Green Road
Originally a selective Grammar School, later a Comprehensive.
- Originally opened: 1577.
- Kettering Grammar School’s original building stood near Bakehouse Hill on Gold Street until it was nearly falling down, and was rebuilt on the same site in 1856.
- Moved to this building: 1913.
- By the late 19th / early 20th century, the Gold Street site was too small and outdated for modern education. In 1913 the governors moved the Grammar School to a new, purpose-built building on Bowling Green Road, with spacious grounds. This was part of a county-wide push to modernise grammar-school provision.
- Moved from this building: 1962.
- The school later moved to then-new premises on Windmill Avenue, the same building which later housed Tresham College.
It stopped being a Grammar School in the 1970s and became Kettering Boys’ School, as part of Northamptonshire’s reorganisation of the secondary education system.
Stamford Road School
Originally a Mixed Primary, later a Boys’ Secondary School.
- Opened: 1892.
- Closed: 1983.
Originally a Mixed Primary School, it later became a Boys’ Secondary School. It merged with Kettering Boys’ School in 1976, serving as ots “lower school”, teaching the first two years of secondary. The Windmill Avenue campus taught years three-to-five.
Stamford Road School finally closed in 1983, with its functions were absorbed into the school on Windmill Avenue.
Kettering High School for Girls
Bowling Green Road
Originally a selective High School, later a Comprehensive.
- Opened: 1913.
- Moved to Lewis Road: 1964.
- Just like the Grammar School, Kettering High School for Girls moved to a new building to accommodate its growing student population and to provide modern, purpose-built facilities that better suited contemporary educational needs.
Kettering High School for Girls shared the building with Kettering Grammar School in Bowling Green Road. The building was divided in two, so the pupils would never cross paths. Even the playground (now a carpark) was split by a wall.
Unfortunate boys would sometimes be thrown over this wall into the other playground…
It merged with Rockingham Road School to create Southfields Girls School, a non-selective Comprehensive, in 1975.
Rockingham Road School
Originally a Mixed Primary, later a Girls’ School.
- Opened: 1894.
- Closed: 1980.
Originally a Mixed Primary School, it later became a Girls’ School.
It merged with Southfields Girls’ School to in 1976.
One year group moved over to the Lewis Road campus each year. The school closed when the last pupils left in 1980.
Hillside
Headlands
- Opened: Before 1890.
- Bought by KHGS: 1917.
- Closed: Approx 1964.
This school started as a private girls’ school. According to Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1898), it was run by Mrs Worters and her daughters.
It was purchased by Kettering High School for Girls, and used as an overflow when the town’s population grew.
High School for Girls
Silver Street
As this was a Private School and not regulated in the same way as other schools, details about it are scarce. To learn more about schools like this and how they closed over time, see The End of Unlicenced Private Schools.
It is listed in Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1898).
According to Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1910), the school moved to Station Road.
A teacher from this school (Miss Baskerville Butcher) would go on to work at Kettering High School for Girls.
Sources – click each for their link
Fred Bull – Kettering Charities
Cytringanian Farewell: Kettering Grammar/Boys’ School.
Harrod & Co’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1876)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/334844/rec/12
Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1890)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/317395/rec/3
Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1898)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/186181/rec/8
Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1903)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/336208/rec/2
Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1910)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/283263/rec/12
Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1914)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/53929/rec/14
Kettering Civic Society
Kettering High School Old Girls’ Association
Kettering Vestry Minutes 1797 – 1853
Retrieved from Northamptonshire Record Society.
Ordnance Survey Map of Kettering (1952)
Pigot’s Directory of Northamptonshire (1841)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/141361/rec/6
Post Office Directory of Northamptonshire (1854)
https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/179460/rec/19
Jack Preston 
Very interesting, Jack. However, Kettering High School merged with Rockingham Road School for Girls to become Southfield in September 1976, not 1975.
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Oops, thank you for that!
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