SCHOOL GROUP 1898

Mr Freestone and school group circa 1898. Mr Freestone served as headmaster from 1878 to 1919  and is remembered today in the street name Freestone Road.

A few readers may have grandparents shown in the photo  but many will remember the backyard of the school where this photo was taken.

SCHOOL GROUP 1908

Another photo of Mr Freestone with pupils taken some ten years later than the one above.

Fourth from the right in the back row is Ern Holland whilst sitting far left in the front row is Meg Hewings whilst two along from her is Ruth Rogers (nee Holland) who many remember as the Kingsteignton Librarian.

KINGSTEIGNTON COUNCIL SCHOOL 1914

Mr Freestone with school group dated 1914. He seems to have swapped his bowler for a flat cap.

Three years previously the Independent Chapel (later Congregational) had passed control of the school over to Devon County Council.

KINGSTEIGNTON COUNCIL SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM 1934-35

Back row:- Ron Squires, Ern Balment, Sid Harvey, Aubrey Parrish, Charlie Igglesden, Cecil Hyatt. Front row:- Len Truman, Percy Widdicombe, Reg Harris, Jonto Carnell, John Curtis, Stan Hosegood.

Cecil Hyatt went on to become part of the Kingsteignton Athletic team which defeated Tiverton Town to win the Geary Cup in 1938, whilst Sid Harvey & John Curtis were members of the all conquering Kingsteignton side of the mid 1950s.

After plans to demolish the school were submitted in 1997, John Curtis,

KINGSTEIGNTON JUNIOR SCHOOL 1938

After the reoganisation of 1938 the school in Sandpath Road became the village Junior School. Pictured here with headmaster Mr William Pearce are:-Back Row:E Farleigh,D Clark, B Sharp, D Hawkins, B Hall, K Kelly, E Stephenws, M Cornall, R Finch, F Yeo. Middle Row: Y Murrin, S Lark, E Hocking, J Brimmecombe, J Archer, B Perryman, J Widdicombe, P Vickery, H Underhay, D Rendle. Front Row: P Germon, B Veale, R Hambly, S Sanders, R Selley, B Tothill, I Cann, R Harris. Many people will remember Daphne Hawkins as Daphne Collman, who was for many years school secretary at Newton Abbot Grammar School, after whom the Daphne Collman Hall at Newton Abbot College is named.

FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN 1951

Under the guidance of a young Miss Eunice Hamm and Mrs Evans (a music teacher who lived  in Kingsteignton), the Kingsteignton Junior School choir was placed first in the South West England Festival at Paignton in 1950. Other successes followed culminating in an invitation to take part in a competition at Central Hall Westminster as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations in 1951.   Fund raising events were held to pay for the trip to London. The choir finished a creditable fourth in one category and first in another. They were subsequently invited to take part in a radio broadcast by the BBC. The programme cover (left) was loaned to the society by Sarah Whitmore whose mother, Shirley West (4th right 2nd row) , was a member of the choir, whilst he photograph below brought back memories for Diane Shears (nee Lentern - pictured sitting 2nd left 2nd row) who was also a member of the choir.  Britain, and London in particular, was still suffering the effects of World War Two, when the morale boosting Festival  of Britain was staged. Diane related how the pupils slept at Clapham Underground Station in an air raid sheltern beds obtained from former army camps, which had become available following the de-mobbing of troops. The shelter featured in the TV series "Secrets of the Underground".

Left: Cutting from Radio Times showing listings for Children's Hour for 20th June 1952.

FOOTBALL TEAM 1954-55

Back Row: Mr Tucker, Mr Bath.

Middle Row:- M Billing, B Barnett, R Caldwell, T Stride, J Goode, P Fiddament.

Front Row:- R Sanders, T Sanders, M Herbert, J Stephens, R Brooks.

 Trivia Note  : Richie Caldwell went on to score the first  goal in a football match played at Broadpark after it became the home of Kingsteignton Athletic.

Nativity Play 1957

Kingsteignton Congregational Church

The school nativity play was held in the Congregational Church, the founding body of the the school back in 1873.

SCHOOL HYMN

A keen musician Mr Dalton introduced the use of a record player to lessons . He composed several musical pieces to be used in school carol concerts and was resonsible for the introduction and musical arrangement  for the school hymn.

The last line of the first verse struck a chord with many pupils who long after they left still regarded the small village school in Sandpath Road as very much their own.

SCHOOL BADGE

LEFT: School badge which incorporated the road-sign of a torch to signify a school.

A badge was sewn on to one of the school football team shirts which the captain wore.

The shirts were first used in the mid 1950s and were still in use in the early 1970s!

FOOTBALL TEAM 1958-59

Back Row:- Mr Bath, Mike Courtier, Eddie Hunt, Fred Hewings, Mike Savage, Tiff Davey, Mr Dalton.

Middle Row:- Jeff Cane, Colin Senior, John Wills, John Brooking.

Front Row:- Ralph Farley, Brian Lear, John Holmes, Dave Stewart.

KINGSTEIGNTON  v  ERNESETTLE  1959-60

 The annual matches between Kingsteignton County Primary School and Ernesettle Primary School at Plymouth were the highlight of the football season for many of the boys who attended the Sandpath Road school. The idea for the fixture came from the late George King, who was born in Kingsteignton and taught at Ernesettle. In the days when few families had cars and the A38 was just a two laned highway, the trip to the big city was quite an adventure. The matches were played in the morning and  usually incorporated a visit to watch Plymouth Argyle in the afternoon. This picture was loaned by Dave Savage, pictured "angelically" with his arms folded. Dave recalls that Kingsteignton never managed to defeat Ernesettle, a large primary school which often won the Plymouth Schools, league.

The line-up for the return match against Ernesettle at Kingsteignton Athletic's former ground of Homers Lane.

A clue is the full sized goal posts & the fact that Mr Bath is the referee.

The line-up reads back row: - Mr Bath, B Wallis, D Mason, K Collings, R Mutton, D Stewart, C Senior. Front row:- D Matthews, L Harvey, J Cane, D Savage, B Lear, J Holmes.

AREA SPORTS TEAM 1960

The cutting to the left was sent to the KHS by Dave Stewart who is pictured holding the cup with Joanne Hodge.

The faces Dave recognises are:- Back Row: D Savage, D Trust, C Edwards, R Mutton, D Stewart, J Hodge, G Harrold, n/k, C Harvey, n/k.  Middle Row kneeling: B Lear, n/k, J Sharland, n/k, n/k. A Scott, n/k, P Harris, P Truman, A Jemmett. Front row sitting: J Holmes, M Wills, n/k.

1962

Mrs Neale pictured with some of the girls in her class.

Standing from left to right:- Linda Ewers, Wendy Scott, Mrs Neale, Anne Wallis, Linda Hopkins, Lynne Maidment.

Kneeling:- Sally Snell and Julie Sweetland.

STAFF CHRISTMAS PARTY 1962

Headmaster Edward Bath passing the cake around.

Seated: Mrs Whiting (School Sec), Mrs Sellman, Mrs Neale.

Standing: Miss Lee, Mr Thompson, Mrs Howarth, Mr Baker.

Left: PRIZE GIVING 1962

Many will remember performing forward rolls during PE on the rubber mats on which the children are sitting &  many will remember how they seemed to attract grit from the playground surface!

Judging by the size of the trees in this photograph it must have been taken in the mid to late 1960s. A low wall in the playground in the middle of the picture would have prevented boys from  riding down the playground slope on make shift skateboards (consisting of a single rolller skate and short piece of wood) as they did in 1964.

The weather station erected during the winter 1961-1962 was still in place. The temporary classrooms erected in 1961 disappeared after the school was made redundant and the site re-developed. Nowadays you can hardly see the church for all the trees which have grown up in the churchyard.

Miss Brotheridge’s class May 1969

The photo on the left was shared by Sue Shaw.

Standing: John Radford, Nigel Fay, Neil Caunter, Michael Andrews, David Pope, Anthony Peabody, Christopher Box

Kneeling: Gareth Manley, ?, Layland Bramfield, Robin Blake, Neil Frost, Graham Tapper, Adrian Parker, David Aggett.

Sitting: Sharon Davey, Ann Gale, Janet Morcombe, Sandra Northcott, Lorraine Voisey, Linda Guppy, Glynis Jackson, Daryll Parker, Carol Dennis, Elaine Singer, Jill Sumner.

1971

By 1970 the roll had risen to 263 and with no further space remaining on the Sandpath Road site an extra two classrooms were built on the new Junior Playing Field beside the Infants’ School. Many former p[upils will remember the site as Alec Cornall's orchard which was acquired by Devon County Council in 1961. Nowadays the field and classrooms form part of the St Michael's school complex.

The picture to the left shows the Junior School sports day in 1971 with headmaster Ted Bath presenting the shield to Rachel Conway, with Neil Huntington, Angela Shatwell and Andrew Cornall looking on.

The picture  on the left shows the class group of Mrs Jones in 1973. The back of the old Junior School had a rural outlook over Greenhill Farm. Getting home after school could be an adventure as a short walk through the churchyard would take you to Honeywell Lane which led  straight to the wide expanse of Hackney Marshes. There was no Greenhill Way to  negotiate.

Or, you could use the more traditional route home along Berry Lane and while away your time messing about along - or in - the brook!

Thanks to  Irene Gilpin, Becky Underhill, Penny Camm, Sue Camm, Margaret Saxton, Claire Collings, and Tom Lear for supplying the names for this class picture.  The full list reads:-

1974

DCC purchased the majority of the grounds of the Old Vicarage from the Whiteway-Wilkinson family in the late 1960s where in 1973 two new classrooms were built  plus a new sportsfield laid out adjacent to the Adult Training Centre in Greenhill Road.

Pictured here is the school football team with the Old Vicarage in the background in 1974. The lineup reads:- Back Row: Carl Small, N Huntington, A Cousins, P Cornall, N Cole.

Front Row: K Discombe, (n/k), G Cook, S White, M Bartlett, (n/k). Some of the boys went on to play football for local teams in the South Devon League, and Glenn Cook found success in the swimming pool and triathlon.

Miss Jones Class 1975

Back Row: Miss Jones, Helen Curtis, Letitia Terrill,  Alison Hall, Lyn Blandford, Denise Moseley, Samantha Moseley, Tracey Small, Sharon Stancombe, Darrin Hewings, Darren Stonelake, Edward Parry. Middle Row: Philip Green, Andrew Bickley, Darren Webber, Michael Moore, Philip Colley, Daniel Vickerstaff, Gordon Mudge, Jamie Hewings, ? Flain, Ian Bell.

Front Row: Claire Mills,  Michelle ?, Julie Arden, Jill Hannaford, Angela Bailey, Toni Lake, Anita Hewings, Sharon Small, Debbie Carnell, Julia Menzies, Joanna Green.

Netball Team 1977

Back Row:- Anita Hewings, Julie Hewings, Samantha Moseley, Miss Jones, Lynn Blandford, Hlen Dyer, Toni Lake.

Front Row: Jill Hannaford, Angela Bailey, Denise Moseley, Sara Vaneltric, Nicole Vallins, Christine Gregory, Julie White.

1982

Kingsteignton Junior School's Doel Cup Winning Team.

Back Row:- Mark Jones,  P Harris, Neil Davey, Stuart Mills (capt) Stephen Blandford, Jonathan Lark, Richard Eales.

Front Row: Jason Yeo, Mark Cousins, Andrew Dore, Jason Ward, Paul Scott.

STAFF 1984

John Hammond sitting centre front row with his staff in 1984. To his right  is Mrs Iris Holland (later King) who attended the school as a child and whose mother-in-law, Mrs Edith Holland, and first husband, James, both served as Chairmen of the Managers. Sadly Iris was widowed in 1969 before remarrying in 1985.

Many of the staff, including secretary Mrs J Russell, moved to the new Rydon School.

1985 School Fete

The school fete was held in the playground with all the sideshows being scattered around the area.

The corner of one of the temporary classrooms erected in the 1950s can be seen to the right of the photo.

The space underneath the classrooms was used to store the maypole and the goal posts used by the football team. It also provided an area for unauthorised exploration and hiding.

1995 The old school from the Church Tower

The fate of the school was still being decided in 1995 when this photo was taken.

In February 1997 a planning application was received by Teignbridge Council to demolish the former Junior School in Sandpath Road. The school held a special place in the hearts of generations of villagers and many felt that the oldest school buildings had played too important a part in the history of the village to be demolished.  Led by a group of former pupils vigorous opposition to the scheme sprang up which eventually saw the developers accede to public pressure and draw up new plans which incorporated the retention of the old school buildings.

1998 Derelict Swimming Pool

Many children learned to swim in this pool which was demolished soon after this photo was taken.