Educational - Schools

Formal education in Sileby can be traced to the first decades of the 17th century when teacher Francis Partridge taught local farmer's and gentlemen's sons to ready them for university entry. A small school was held in the Parish church from the mid 17th century onwards.

The William Staveley charity (1704) and that of George Pochin (1706) gave annual funds for a schoolmaster to give free tuition to seven boys.

Little further development in Sileby's educational provision occurred until 1860 when the Church of England National School opened on Barrow Road. It could house 400 children. An infant school was later added to the site in 1875.

Nonconformist groups held Sunday schools and lessons with their own teachers but this was on a small scale. It wasn't until 1879 when Thomas Caloe provided the site and funds for the construction of an Undenominational School on King Street that this situation changed. The school opened in 1880 and was later to become Redlands school.

Earlier, during the mid 1870s a small short-lived school had been established at the Roman Catholic chapel on The Banks.

The expansion of the village population during the 20th century put more pressure on the schools due to the increasing size of classes and the lack of available classroom provision. By the 1970s the position became intolerable. Extra temporary classrooms were provided on the empty vicarage site on Mountsorrel Lane as additional space for Barrow Road school. Finally, a decision to build a new school on Heathcote Road was made and Highgate school opened in 1978. Barrow Road school closed in late 1977.