Cotton End Forest School

In September 2013, Cotton End Lower School became Cotton End Primary School.
The Eastcotts (Cotton End) School Board was established on November 14th, 1873.
The Cotton End school began not long after, on January 26, 1874, according to the logbook [SDEastcotts1], albeit as we shall see, it was not in the current school buildings.
A thorough history of the school's construction has been compiled by the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service office personnel [CRT130Eastcotts1].
The majority of the forty new students that were admitted to the new Eastcotts Board School on November 15th came from Harrowden and were previously Cardington School students.
In 1902, a historic Education Act was passed, and it went into effect in 1903.
From immediately before the First World War through the interwar years, school inspectors visited the majority of Bedfordshire schools, according to a scrapbook kept by the Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service [E/IN1/1].
After the First World War, the following trip was made.
The new Head Teacher is doing a good job at this school.
Since she arrived, the older kids' work has much improved, and more improvement is likely.
There is more life now than there used to be, and the instruction is more exciting.
Even if it is still not very good, math in the first class is much better than it was.
Overall, composition and writing are strong, and the assistant teacher's classes in drawing and singing are both well above average.
The children's physical development is likewise progressing adequately.
The young teacher in charge of the lower class is very meticulous and should do well with enough practise.
It is sufficient to note that the young teacher in charge of the lower class has improved since the previous report was completed and is carrying out extremely beneficial work.
"This school did extremely fine work under the last Permanent Head Teacher," the report reads from the 1927 inspection.
The children experienced some degree of unrest due to the headship changes that occurred between her resignation and the appointment of the current Head, but the work is now well underway.
There is a lot of solid work being done in the infants' room, and several of the top students are doing well in written English.
The Middle Section, taught by a novice teacher who will be attending college in September, is not significantly falling behind, but it would be wise to choose a mistress with greater expertise overseeing many sections when the time comes.
When the Inspector returned in 1930, there were 90 students enrolled on average. He noted, "This school has always been a self-contained unit.
Future plans include for converting it to a junior school.
According to the school's current history, it previously enjoyed considerable success. This was followed by an era of individual achievement in the upper portion of the school, which fluctuated in the junior section but remained steady for the infants.
The same mistress is still the teacher in the infants section, where this situation persists. In the middle section, there is a mistress who is not inefficient but rather ineffective.
The current head teacher has done well in the top class.
She has not had an easy work due to the restrictions of the part in the middle of the school.
It is fair to say that her work has unquestionably raised the standard in the top class, and that she appears to be a teacher of sound judgement who would be a valuable Head for Senior Girls or for Juniors, without praising the "results" as found in her examinations or criticising her own general assessment of the state of the school.
Currently, there are 42 infants in the room; some of them will need to be moved to make place for new arrivals after Christmas.
On the state of the school, the teachers deserve praise.
With an average turnout of 82, the final inspection described in the book occurred in 1937.
"At the time of this visit, there were 98 students registered at the school, 70 of whom are being taught by two teachers in a single space that is only divided by a curtain.
a) The two higher classes would be reorganised solely for handwork and needlework, leaving the newborns alone.
The institution underwent numerous alterations as a result of World War II.
The logbook recorded on September 11, 1939, "School reopened today.
Due to the start of the war, there is no transportation available to take senior students to their senior schools.
This week, only one teacher has been responsible for instructing around 80 kids.
SDEastcotts
4) The logbooks also document the modifications made to the school to fortify it and provide pupils with secure air raid shelters.
Through actual warnings and practise exercises, they demonstrate the disruption to lessons.
The third of the great Education Acts was that of 1944 which established the principle of County Primary Schools for children up to the age of 11, at which time they took an examination to determine the nature of the secondary school they would attend until they were 15, the most academically able going to grammar schools, the rest to secondary or secondary modern schools.
The act also established two types of schools, voluntary aided and voluntary controlled, to replace the public elementary schools.
Eastcotts became a County Primary School and changed its name to Cotton End County Primary School when another school in the parish was opened at Shortstown in 1957.
In the 1970s Bedfordshire County Council introduced comprehensive education, doing away with the 11+ examination and grammar schools and introducing a tier of school between the old County Primary and County Secondary Schools.