ABSTRACT
In Colyton in 1851, choice for the better-off was governed by the size of the family income; for the poor, education depended very largely, though not entirely, on religious affiliation. The great majority of parents who wished their children to receive an education but could not afford to pay for it had to look for help to the Sunday schools run by the various religious groups. In Colyton, the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, with the help of public subscriptions, built a two-storey Sunday school close to the church, which was free to all children and opened its doors in 1835. The Education Act of 1870 provided that England should be divided into districts, and that elementary schools should be set up where school provision was insufficient. In 1924, the County Educational Committee suggested that the school should become an endowed secondary school under county control.
