Although the official millennium book of the Parish of Grouville Grouville, the History of a Country Parish, says that the first parish school opened in the building that is now the parish hall, across the road from the parish church, in 1899, it is believed that the opening date of this school, as the Central School, was actually 1859. This was during the period in the mid-1800s when the rapid explosion in the island's population and the demand for schools which were properly regulated and offered a better standard of education than the enormous number of private establishments which had started, led to the establishment of a number of schools run by the parochial authorities.
States control
Grouville School was eventually one of 14 parish schools taken over by the States in 1913, and is still in existence today, although at a different location in Rue de la Haye du Puits, close to Grouville Common.
The growth of Grouville's population in the 19th century, fuelled mainly by the Oyster trade in Gorey, led to the establishment of a number of other schools in the parish, including Gorey Village School, Rhiwbina School on Halfway Hill, and Hilgrove School.
The parish school provided two classrooms either side of a central entrance, linked by a third room in which the headmaster taught the senior pupils. No staffroom existed , washing facilities were almost non-existent and the outside lavatories were primitive.
New building
The new school opened in October 1939. It was built on an old orchard near the Wimbledon Hotel and, in comparison with the old building, was comparatively luxurious. The school catered for pupils of all ages, up to school-leaving age, until the early 1960s, when the senior pupils moved to schools in St Helier and the parish school became a primary school. The school was extended in 1999. Nine years earlier a modern unit for hearing impaired children was established.
Grouville infants in 1946
Celebrations for the Silver Jubilee of George V in 1935
1954
Miss Gibbons, 1953
Seniors in 1958
