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23 Oct 2025

Nostalgia: The secret history of Torbay's schools

Take a trip down memory lane with Lesley Drew of the Paignton Heritage Society

Lesley Drew: The secret history of Torbay's schools

Percussion band circa 1952

Schools in Torbay have changed a lot in the past eighty years.

During the Second World War our schools were overcrowded due to large numbers of children evacuated here from the big cities. In fact, Oldway School, or Polsham Road as it was known then, was so overcrowded that each child could only have a half day at school so as to make room for more children to attend in the second half of the day.

That all changed, and by the fifties there were several well-attended, but not overcrowded, schools in the area. Polsham Road reverted to a more manageable size. Curledge Street school in the town centre, built in Victorian times, looked grey and austere but in fact was a happy school. Until the building of Paignton Academy on the Totnes Road in the 90s, it also housed the girl's secondary school.

Boys of secondary school age went to Tweenaway school, now incorporated into Paignton Academy. Hayes Road School, well attended and with an enviable academic record, served families in the Totnes Road area and was a popular choice.

For those looking for education with a religious element, the Marist order of nuns provided that. Based at their convent in Fisher Street, they provided an excellent education for, as the sign outside the school once said, “The Daughters of Gentlemen and small boys”. The Order opened a Junior School in Oldway Road in the early fifties and there were boarding facilities at the main school in Fisher Street.

The Marist Convent was a fee-paying school, but for those who couldn’t afford to pay but still wanted their children to have a religious education, the Marist Sisters ran a free school in Cecil Road, still running very successfully as Sacred Heart School. There were several private schools in Paignton, including Brownston in Palace Ave, Monplaisir College in Torquay Road and Montpelier School for Boys at Barcombe Hall, amongst others.

Two things that all the schoolchildren had in common were the annual visit to Gladwyns in Hyde Road, usually in August, to purchase your new uniform. Gladwyns sold all the school uniforms, and in late summer their windows were full of just that.

The second thing that children in Paignton in the fifties probably remember is the Paignton Festival. Held at the Palace Theatre schools would enter choirs, and percussion bands as well as individual children dancing and reciting poems. Probably not something that would prove very popular today

Paignton Heritage Society has some interesting old school pictures in its archive which will shortly be available to the public in the Heritage Centre opening soon in the library. The society was recently allowed access to the Oldway School Archive, and some of the information found there has been incorporated into our new book Wartime Paignton. The book written by the Society will be launched in Paignton Library on 10 May at 10.30am. This is a drop-in event, and everybody is welcome to come along. 

The book was written in conjunction with Oldway school and with the help and advice from a focus group of children. It is hoped that the children will attend the launch.

Paignton Heritage Society is busy and growing. We work with all members of the community, young and old, and plans are in place to start a Junior PHS, meeting once a month on a Saturday morning. For further information on the activities and plans for the future, please see our websitewww.paigntonheritagesociety.co.uk.

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