THE news that Worting infant and junior schools are to amalgamate, with the creation of a 330-place primary school at Chiltern Way, has brought this old established institution into the limelight.

Currently, the two schools stand side by side at Kempshott – the infant school having some 130 children, aged between four and seven, while the junior school has an average 160 children between seven and 11 years, most of whom reside in the South Ham, Winklebury and Buckskin areas.

The first school at Worting village was a small building in the north west corner of St Thomas A’Becket of Canterbury churchyard, then it was replaced by the building opposite the church, which is now used as a hall.

The new school was built by the Rev Lovelace Bigg-Wither in 1855 for children aged between four and 14 years. It consisted of two large rooms with living quarters at the rear of the building for one of the teachers. Over the years, the numbers of children increased so the building was enlarged in 1886 and 1901.

Later on, the Rev Lovelace Bigg-Wither moved to Brighton in Sussex, where he died of heart failure in 1874, aged 68.

When the 1926 Education Act stipulated that children from 11 years old could no longer continue their education in village schools, plans by the Education Authority to build a new county school in the area were brought into fruition by the construction of an infant school in Kempshott Lane on land that was part of Buckskin Farm, which was then owned by Henry Gibbons. On Monday, April 29, 1930, the new school was opened, to educate 132 young children.

In the 1930s the school consisted of only two classrooms, the largest having a curtain that could be drawn across to provide a third classroom when necessary.

In the winter the heating was by coke stoves, which allowed the children close to them to roast, and those furthest away to freeze.

There were no school meals at first, so the children either brought sandwiches or went home for lunch.

The infant school also had a junior section, which, over the years, expanded into several classes.

By the 1960s, when the Town Development Scheme brought about the construction of the Buckskin housing estate, the school was too small to handle the amount of children living in that area, even though extensions had been built in previous years. So, on December 16, 1968, a new junior school was opened in Chiltern Way, and the juniors were transferred to this new building.

In 1972, the Kempshott School was opened, taking the pressure off the increase in entrants to the Worting schools. But by the 1980s, when there were less young children in the area, the Education Authority decided to re-organise the schools in the western side of Basingstoke with the closure of two schools in South Ham. The parents and governors of the Worting schools campaigned to keep their schools open and their wishes were granted.

The future merger of the two Worting schools will mean that children in that area of Basingstoke will continue to be educated within close proximity of their homes, and the future of these schools will be secure for the time being.

Plans to develop the land in the Worting area could mean a further increase in young children in the future, but, as many people are already saying, Basingstoke has become too big and needs to develop in a more natural way.