Rathmell Old School

The Repurposing of Rathmell School

Rathmell School was a truly fantastic primary school with small classes of children who looked after one another, caring teachers and staff, great results, and school dinners whose fame justly spread far and wide. But a decline in numbers of children in the village led eventually to a decision by the School Governors and the community that it was no longer viable to keep the school open without sacrificing its high standards, and so the school was closed on 31st August 2017.

Following this very sad and painful decision, the School Trustees and local residents considered the original gift, and took on its care.

The school buildings were re-opened as a community and educational resource, and “renamed” Rathmell Old School. Since re-opening, the trustees and villagers have put a huge amount of personal effort into redecorating, organising, maintaining, kitting out, baking, publicising, welcoming and generally doing things to make sure that the building is put to good use for the village.

The school has hosted fitness classes, family play (and cake) days and bouncy castle sessions, village lunches and teas (with cake), first aid courses, young farmers get-togethers, choir practices, sewing machine lessons (with cake) and various meetings (many with cake).


Hire and bookings

The school hall, kitchen, rooms and storage spaces are available for hire by the community.

The school is now on B4RN’s hyperfast broadband network too, and neighbours who are eagerly waiting to get B4RN at home can arrange to come and use the fast internet here.


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