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In the nineteenth century, many villages built their own chapels for religious worship and education.
The British & Foreign School Society had been founded to provide non-denominational schools, distinct
from the Anglican Church ‘National Schools’. The British School in Longworth was managed by a deed of
5 June 1854. It had been started for all the children of the parish and neighbourhood for their
instruction in a sound English education and religious knowledge. It was held in the schoolroom
behind the chapel on the main street. The house on the west side was the teacher’s residence.
This was the only school in the village for many generations of pupils.
The chapel became known as Longworth Congregational Church, though the numbers of worshippers gradually
dwindled. The room at the back was still called ‘the school’ although it was becoming structurally unsound.
Eventually the Berkshire Education Committee (Longworth was in Berkshire at this time) took up the urgent
need for a new school, and the present building was erected on land purchased by the County.
On 1 April 1972 the school passed into the control of Oxfordshire. The chapel, now part of a wider
Longworth Group of the United Reformed Church, closed in 1990. The last minister was the Reverend
Justine Wyatt who lived at Cumnor.
The Trustees of the Frilford and Longworth Home Mission Trust administered the charity which provided
for the upkeep of the old buildings. In 1997 a new scheme of ownership for the assets of the school
was drawn up and approved. Named ‘The Longworth School and School Endowment’ (LSSE), it consists of
five trustees, two appointed by the school governing body, two by the United Reformed Church and one
co-opted by the other trustees. They retain the right, established in the years before 1997, to
appoint two of the school governors.
In 1999 the Council transferred the ownership of the land on which the school is built (not including
the playing field) to the new charity as per the purposes of the charity originally established by the
Trust Deed dated 5 June 1854. In addition the Trustees ensure the land and the buildings are used as
a voluntary school within the meaning of the Education Acts and administer and manage the small amount
of funds which remained after the original transactions took place.
The original Trustees were: Peter Tyrer, Jennifer Duncan, Gilbert Kitt, Reverend Richard Taylor and Dorothy Wilsmore.
The current Trustees are: Peter Tyrer (Chairman), Jennifer Duncan (Treasurer), Reverend Richard Taylor, Nat Micklem and Mickie Hall (Secretary)
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