Nevendon County Primary School opened during 1927 as
a Council school. Situated in Burnt Mills Road, it replaced an earlier National school which stood nearby in Nevendon Road
that was built around 1886. In August 1926 the Education Committee were
preparing to accept tenders for the erection of the new school. In late September it was announced
that building contractor T.J. Bailey of Chelmsford had submitted the lowest tender, which had been
accepted and work commenced during the last months of the year.
During the Second World War air-raid shelters were constructed within the school
grounds. In the 1950s as development of Basildon New Town got under way the school was used as an overflow to cater
for a large contingent of children moving into the newly completed housing estates in Fryerns. The school was a
single storey building of a traditional design and set in around 4 acres of
land. Girls and Infants were known to use a separate entrance from the boys and a large playing
field to the rear of the school was used for sporting events. There was no swimming pool though
trips to a pool in Hutton took place before Gloucester Park opened in the late 1960s. An outside
feature was the toilet block built adjacent to the school field. The school did provide its own
meals cooked in the schools' in-house kitchen. By the late 1960s the facilities at the school
were considered primitive and in protest a Parents Association action group was formed in 1970
with the aim of lobbying the Basildon Education Committee into providing indoor toilets, safety
barriers and a school hall. Permission was eventually given for the provision of six indoor
toilets. Pupil numbers at the turn of the decade stood at around 280. A new
portacabin classroom was later provided which became class 3 though the hut, which served as a
dining hall was still in use in 1970. The school closed in July 1983 due to falling pupil numbers. Following
closure the building found use as a polling station during elections, a use it may have provided when it was open. The
playing fields have now been built over and the school has now found an alternate use as the Basildon
Information and Technology Education Centre. Past Headmasters of the school include Mr. W.J. Budgen (1960s-1970s),
Mr. J.J. Wright (1970s). Former teachers' at the school include: Miss Rogers, Mr. Jenkins, Miss Brett, Mrs G. Burles,
who also played the piano, Mrs Priddle, Mr Tear (Headmaster?), Mr. J. Coward, Miss Brett, Mrs Black, Mrs Walker,
Mrs Bell, Mrs Peggy Floate, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Wright, Mrs Curzon, Mrs Elvin, Miss Reece, and Mrs Colby who
was acting head in the schools' final years.
Other points of interest:
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