 |
The British School was built at Badbrook by Charles Baker in 1840, and was paid for by subscription. It was affiliated to the British & Foreign Schools Society, which existed to provide education for the non-conformist population. There was a National School, built by the Church of England National Schools Society, in nearby Brickrow. The Boys’ School was on the ground floor of the building and the Girls’ School on the first floor, and they seem to have operated independently. In 1884, Badbrook boys went off to the newly-built Parliament Street Board School and the girls remained in the British School, which began to specialise in domestic science. After a few years of indecision it became a Domestic Science Centre for girls from local secondary schools, while at the same time running a small secondary school which was to become the Girls Central School, and which moved to Downfield in 1926. The Domestic science training for primary age girls continued until the War, when Red Cross classes were held there. After the War it became a domestic science annexe for the overcrowded Rodborough School, until Archway School opened. In 1974, it was compulsorily purchased by the County Council as part of Stroud's Inner Ring Road scheme which was never built. In 1982, a new trust called Badbrook Educational Trust was established and a grant was awarded to Shire Training Workshops (later, Open House), who have remodelled the building and the area. From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local Revised 2018 EMW |
History