There are no references to education in Saint Peter's before the short series of episcopal visitations held by Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service beginning in 1706.

Early 18th Century Episcopal Visitations

Volume 81 published by Bedfordshire Historical Records Society (2002) is a series of episcopal visitations undertaken in the first twenty years of the 18th century, edited by former County Archivist Patricia Bell. At each visitation a list of questions was sent out in advance, one of which enquired about the provision of schools in each parish. The various replies for Bedford, Saint Peter de Merton are as follows:

• 1706: There is neither Lecture, Schole, Almes-house, nor Hospital in this parish;
• 1709: No public or Charitie Schole;
• 1717: No Public nor charity Schole in the Parish;
• 1720: There is no Public nor Charity Schole in the Parish

1818 Select Committee Questionnaire

In 1818 a Select Committee was established to enquire into educational provision for the poor. This was no doubt prompted, in part, by the recent foundation of two societies promoting education and specifically the building of schools. The Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor was established in 1808 promoting schools run along the lines pioneered by Joseph Lancaster, who had himself copied those of Dr.Andrew Bell, in which older children taught their younger fellows. The Society was renamed the British and Foreign School Society in 1814,. It was supported by a number of prominent nonconformists, Lancaster himself was a Quaker, and sought to teach a non-sectarian curriculum. In answer to this perceived nonconformist takeover of local education the National Society was firmed in 1811 to encourage the teaching of poor children along Anglican lines, including the catechism. The Select Committee sent a questionnaire to all parishes in the country asking for: particulars relating to endowments for the education of children; other educational institutions; observations of parish needs etc. In those days a Sunday School was just that, a school which met on a Sunday, usually in the church or nonconformist chapel or other similar building, teaching more than the religious topics with which they are associated today.

The return for Saint Peter de Merton read raher like an idealised picture advertising the town: "The town of Bedford posesses ample funds for supporting schools in every department of useful learning; which are faithfully applied. The children of the higher classes are instructed in classical and mathematical learning, and qualified for the Universities. Stationery is gratuitously supplied, and exhibitions to the Universities granted. The children of the middle classes are generally taught English grammar, writing and arithmetic. The classical and mathematical school is also open to them, and to the children of every class of inhabitants resident in the town. The poorer classes are also taught to read, write and cypher, and the girls needlework, cutting out clothes &c; in short, no individual in this town is without the means of obtaining gratuitously a complete education, according to their situation in life, or the wishes or views of the parents".

1833 Questionnaire

In the country generally the number of schools built continued to grow over the next fifteen years so that by 1833 the government agreed to supplement the work of the two societies, and local benefactors, by making £20,000 per annum available in grants to help build schools. It also prompted another questionnaire to be sent to each parish in England asking for details of local educational provision. The return for Saint Peter de Merton stated: "two Boarding Schools, in which 58 females are educated at the expense of their parents; and Four Sunday Schools; two in union with the parish of St. Cuthbert, in which are 32 males and 41 females, supported by voluntary contributions, and of the Established Church, with a lending library attached; the other two, consisting of 30 males and 43 females, appertain to a sect called Moravians, by whom they are gratuitously instructed".

Church School Enquiry 1846/7

The next national enquiry was in 1846/7 when the Church of England made an enquiry as to all its church schools. This was against the background of a new Whig government which championed secular education and the increasing importance of nonconformists, particularly Wesleyan Methodist, and Roman Catholics in providing schools. The response from Saint Peter's was to indicate that there was a Sunday and Evening school of 40 boys and 30 girls.