A Week in Hendred

The school day

While the parents go off to their work, children attend school. East Hendred is fortunate in being able to offer two primary schools plus a Preschool. The Hendreds Preschool is open to all children in the locality who are between 3 and 5 years old.

From official school age of 5 onwards children may be enrolled at one of the village schools, the Hendreds C of E Primary School or St. Amands School. Other schools are available at Wantage, Abingdon, Steventon etc. The Hendreds Primary School is a traditional small village school with 119 pupils. Most of the children attending the school come from East or West Hendred and the other outlying villages such as Ardington, Betterton and Lockinge.

St. Amands is larger than The Hendreds Primary and its emphasis is on Catholic teaching. The school currently has 160 pupils ranging in age from 4 through to 11. Children from Catholic families travel within a 50 mile radius to attend this special school. For most of these children, school begins at 9 a.m. and finishes around 3 p.m. although there are extra-curricular activities for some.

The Hendreds school runs an after school club for its pupils, offering games and creative leisure pastimes for the children until 6 p.m. This aids those families where one or both parents work long days and would be otherwise unable to collect the children at the earlier finishing time.

The older children (school years 7 - 13, ages 11 - 18) travel to schools outside the village. The majority go to King Alfred’s in Wantage, a state comprehensive which has recently become a Sports College, though its pupils do not necessarily have to have a strong interest in sport. Other state school pupils go to Didcot Girls School, or to St. Birinus, the boys school in Didcot. Others attend independent schools - St. Helen and St. Katharine, and Our Lady's Convent, both girls’ schools in Abingdon, and Abingdon School for boys.

Overview
The working day
The school day
Transport and Travel
Leisure Time
Regular weekly events in the village
Other regular events held at least once a month