| AdminHistory | It is possible that a factory school existed at the Ravenhead British Plate Glass Company in St.Helens from the early 1830s. A permanent structure was built for the school in 1840 and enlarged in 1846 to contain rooms for boys, girls and infants.
The school was established 'for the use of children whose parents are in their employment and for children of the poor of the neighbourhood'. As a result it was entirely supported by the Ravenhead British Plate Glass Company and children's weekly payments.
The school was probably located in the building known as the 'Old Mill' at the junction of Factory Row and Ravenhead Road.
A new day school was opened in 1894 as a result of funds being raised by both the vicar of St.Helens and a society in London known as 'The Kilburn Sisters'. The Kilburn Sisters paid a substantial sum towards the new building on the understanding that the old Ravenhead British Plate Glass Company School should be reorganised as a Church of England School.
The school was re-organised into two departments of Mixed and Infants but the school remained in an overcrowded state.
In the 1890s the Vicar of Ravenhead built St. John's School in Scholes Lane, for Infants and Juniors. Those children who reached Standard I were transferred to Ravenhead British Plate Glass Company School, which was still overcrowded.
In 1905 the St.Helens Borough Council built a large council school at Thatto Heath to alleviate some of the overcrowding at Ravenhead. Ravenhead Church of England Mixed School closed in 1980. |