Description:
Extracted from Peering's 'Nottinghamia': The Bluecoat School was founded in 1706 by Timothy Fenton, rector of St Peter's Church (1705-21), and the incumbents of the two other Nottingham parishes, St Mary's and St Nicholas'. It was Nottingham's first elementary school which educated both sexes free of charge. It took its name from the blue uniforms provided for the pupils from 1725 (before this date the clothes were grey in colour).
The movement to set up charity schools began in the late seventeenth century as an attempt to combat crime and un-Christian behaviour. It sought to provide schooling for the children of the poor in 'pious instruction and education in the knowledge and practice of true religion'.
The school was funded by voluntary subscription. After an initial meeting on 27 February 1706 to gain subscribers to the venture, the school opened on 1 May 1707, not at the building seen here, but possibly in a house loaned for the purpose in St Mary's Gate. The Nottingham Charity School undertook to clothe and teach forty children (25 male and 15 female) aged between 7 and 14, and apprentice them when their education was completed. In selecting pupils, the Trustees gave preference to orphans and those from large families. The children of those receiving poor relief were not eligible.
In 1723 the school moved to its first permanent location on High Pavement in a handsome building opposite Garners Hill. The school moved again in 1853 to a building on the west side of Mansfield Road (near the junction with Woodborough Road), which is now the International Community Centre. The School has now re-located yet again to far larger premises on Aspley Lane, which were opened in 1967.