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John Sadden

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Gosport Weather

The school was not well stocked with books and most of the text-books and reading books were old.

The field behind what is now Leesland Primary School was used for games, - football, rounders and other games.  Netball was still played in the school playground.  The children walked to the field in a crocodile. The children walked to the open-air swimming pool in the town too, but sometimes were able to go on the service bus.  They could only go swimming in the summer when the water was warm enough.  This limited the number of children who could go, so only the older ones went to the pool.

Though efforts had been made to improve conditions in the school, it was realised that what was really needed was a different building. In 1964, Grove Road School became empty, because the children were moved to the new Brune Park School.

The Managers and the Education Authority were wondering what to do about St. John’s School.  The building needed to be radically transformed in order to satisfy the requirements of the Department of Education and Science.  Meanwhile there was a meeting of a sub-committee which was considering the re-organising of schools in Gosport, because of the transference of the Grove Road School and the Leesland Road School to the new Brune Park School.  The Vicar and Dr. White were both at the meeting.  The Vicar said to Dr. White, “I think it would solve both problems if St. John’s School transferred to Grove Road”.  He did not expect anything to happen as a result of his remark, but it was entered into the minutes.

The law requires that when a Church Aided School decides to close, and transfer to more suitable buildings, the Authority was required to provide a site, and the Church, the buildings. At Grove Road, there was a site with buildings already on it.  The Authority transferred the site to the Church and the Church sold the Old School.

With the proceeds of the sale, and help from the Diocese and the National Society, together with £1000 from the (previous sale) of St. Luke’s Mission, there was enough money to buy the Grove Road buildings.  The Local Authority was obliged to provide facilities for school meals and for a medical room.  To comply with the Ministry requirements for a one-form entry aided school, certain alterations had to be carried out.  The cost of these all qualified for the 80% Ministry grant.  Nevertheless, there was still concern about the cost of the alterations.  The Vicar and the Mayor tried to reassure the Managers by saying that they felt sure that the Diocesan Education Committee would give further financial assistance if necessary.  The buildings were then adapted for use as a Church Aided Primary School.