Lincroft School April 2011

Lincroft School was built as a County Secondary Modern School in the early 1960s. The third of the great Education Acts, in 1944, established the principle of County Primary Schools for children up to the age of 11, at which time they took an examination to determine the nature of the secondary school they would attend until they were 15, the most academically able going to grammar schools, the rest to secondary or secondary modern schools where a more vocational curriculum was taught.

The site for the new school was acquired in 1962 from Clifton John Claude Ibbett of Oakley Grange [CCE1694/5]. It comprised twelve acres and the deed abstracted the ownership of the land back to 1919 when, as part of Hill Farm (as Oakley Grange was then known), it belonged to Herbert Arthur Emmett who had purchased it from the Duke of Bedford in October 1918. The land was bought by Bertram Gilbert Smith of Lavendon [Buckinghamshire] in 1943 and he sold it to Gladys Ibbett of Milton Ernest and Phyllis Maud Ibbett of Kempston in 1955, Clifton Ibbett buying it from Phyllis in 1961.

In the 1970s Bedfordshire County Council introduced comprehensive education, doing away with the 11+ examination and grammar schools and introducing a tier of school between the old County Primary and County Secondary Schools. Thus Lower Schools now taught children aged 4 to 9, Middle Schools from 9 to 13 and Upper Schools from 13 onwards. Lincroft County Secondary Modern School thus became Lincroft Middle School.

On 1st April 2009 Bedfordshire County Council was abolished. The new Local Education Authority for Oakley became Bedford Borough Council, formerly a district council but now a unitary authority. At that time Lincroft had around seven hundred and fifty students, receiving nine year olds from Oakley Lower School next door, as well as Biddenham, Bromham, Clapham, Felmersham and Milton Ernest.

At the time of writing [2011] there is uncertainty over the future of the school structure in the Borough with a move to abolish middle school and have children go from a primary school to a secondary school at age 11. Lincroft may close and become a satellite site for Sharnbrook Upper School