top of page

History of our School

Harby Church of England Primary School began as a church school founded by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. It opened under the Rector, William Evans Hartopp, in about 1827, on land donated by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland.

Harby_Primary_School_1895.jpg

A new school building opened on 25 March 1861, probably on the site of a village green, under a church committee headed by Rev. Manners Octavius Norman, at a cost of £861 3s 4d. The surveyors and architects were Bellamy and Hardy of Lincoln. It had two main teaching classrooms, a large kitchen, toilets to the rear, and accommodation for the teacher consisting of a downstairs study and three upper rooms. The first headmaster was Henry Major. The county council took over management on 1 July 1903.

Originally there was a bell tower above the front door, of which only the base remains intact. A swan (as an emblem of the school) and a book are carved on either side of the base. In 1976 the school was extended with three new open-plan classroom areas. One old schoolroom was converted into a studio and TV room. A new kitchen was built at the rear and a boiler house in the style of the old school added.

The Friends of Harby School support school activities and organise the Belvoir Challenge, an annual 26 or

15 mile cross-country race with a limit of 1200 participants.

Click to visit the School Website

bottom of page