St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Aldershot was a barren wilderness with a tiny population before 1850. Aldershot Garrison was founded as the first permanent training station for the British Army in 1854, during the Crimean War. As a result, Aldershot's population quickly increased from 875 in 1851 to more than 16,000 by 1861. After Aldershot joined the Diocese of Southwark, a Catholic school room for 48 kids was established in the High Street. The next year, it rose to 67. A defunct public house on the intersection of Cambridge Road and Alexandra Road was publicly inaugurated as a chapel and school in 1869. This structure is still standing today. In 1884, the Abingdon Sisters of Mercy took over management of this institution. Unfortunately, the Sisters left in 1889 due to financial issues. The Franciscan Sisters eventually took their place, and the institution later changed its name to "Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, St Anthony's Convent" until 1969. St. Joseph's joined the Diocese of Portsmouth in 1882, and in 1913 the Queens Road St. Joseph's Church and St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School were both inaugurated. St. Joseph's School was relocated to huts on St. Georges Road between the 1940s and the 1970s. Up until later years, when lunches were delivered, the kids had to walk to West End School for lunch because there wasn't a kitchen there. St. Mary's Infant School was constructed at Bridge Road in 1966. The current location of St. Joseph's Catholic Academy was created when a junior school was constructed next to it in 1978.