Mrs. Marjorie Carreck (Joint Curator, Henfield Museum) gave a very entertaining and lively talk on Henfield Schools. The evening was well supported and the audience was able to examine registers from the Boys' School, as well as the Girls' School log book from about 1920 onwards.

The earliest educational establishments were in the hands of the monasteries, but there was none in this area. Grammar schools were established in the Tudor times, the nearest to Henfield being at Steyning, but it wasn't until 1808 that a non-conformist, Joseph Lancaster, started schools for the poor.

Henfield had a number of private schools. John Rothwell, vicar of Henfield from 1686 to 1705 was licensed in 1687 to teach boys Latin, English and arithmetic. William Woollgar's Boys' School was founded in 1692 and was licensed to teach boys in the Parish until about the 18th century. The master of the workhouse taught the paupers in the workhouse. In Neptown, in what is now School Cottage, there was probably a Dame School (usually a well educated widow who took in a small number of pupils and offered a very basic and fundamental education). A boarding school and later also a day school was run by Jonathan and Louisa Sowton in the 1820/30s in the house in the High Street that stood on the site of Elm Lodge, next to Budgens. Agnes and Anne Martin ran Poplar House School in the High Street from 1851 to the 1860s for between 7 and 10 students. Prior to that from c1840 their school was situated in the area of the chemist's shop. A school at Forges in the High Street was run by the Harwood sisters (Susan, Kate and Martha) from c1860 through to c1910, and was described as a ladies' school with ten borders. In 1870, Edwin Churcher established a private school in Croft Lane at Henfield House, also known as the Lucton School. (The classroom was in what is now Stable Cottage.) In 1889 at Henfield Place, we had a Roman Catholic Seminary, the first in the south of England which ran until 1891. Clifton House, now known as the White House, on the Common, was also a private school for boys and girls in c1870, but is not listed in the directories and so probably was not in existence for very long.

In 1786 William Phillips started a school at Potwell (birthplace of William Borrer, 1781 - see next paragraph), and taught English, writing, arithmetic, geometry and the "Italian method of book-keeping" - and the fees were 12 guineas per annum. In 1793 Latin and French were also taught, and later surveying. In 1788 a new classroom was erected closed to the house (possibly in what is now Red Oaks Lodge -if you look closely you can still see where the bell would have been high under the eaves on the eastern side). William Phillips retired in 1802 and his son Matthew carried on running the school until 1806.

In 1811 Reverend Andrew Bell, a Church of England clergyman formed the "National Society for the Education of the Poor in the ways of the established Church", and eventually 10,000 schools were established offering the Madras system of education. Between 6.30 and 7.30 in the morning, lessons were taught to the class monitors, who then passed the information on to the pupils during the day. Paper was very expensive, and so they used slates; reading was practised using selected passages from the Bible. Education of the poor in Henfield was due entirely to one man, William Borrer, who in 1812 formed the Henfield Society for Educating the Poor. Wealthy villagers (including farmers and shop-keepers) agreed to be subscribers and donate money. Between 1815 and 1855 there were 66 different subscribers. It is probable that Red Oaks Lodge was the site of the first National Boys' School when it opened in 1812.

The boys moved to the new school on Henfield Common in 1819 at which time the first Girls' School started at Red Oaks Lodge. In c1834, a new Girls' School was built on the footpath between Red Oaks and Broomfield Road. Now divided into two cottages, the bell can still be seen on the outside of the building. In 1844 William Borrer gave the land at Nep Town on which the Infants School was built.

Excellent records of the Boys' School during the period 1815-1825 (including minutes and registers) have survived and are now held by Henfield Museum. School was held 7 days a week, and boys were expelled for continued non-attendance on a Sunday. The minutes show that in 1816 Headmaster Mr. Iford was dismissed for flagrant misconduct, but pages are missing from the minutes and no further details are known. Mr. Godley was then appointed after a 2-month training period; his agreement mentioned a salary of £20 per half-year. Mr. Godley remained in charge of the school until 1853. Records show that in 1816 the total number of boys admitted to the school since it first started were 158; those discharged able to read was 42, unable to read 74; and the number on the register at that time 92. Boys left at age 12 and were given a Bible on discharge if they could read.

The Girls' School closed in 1952, and from then on both the junior girls and boys were taught together at the School on the Common. The Infants School remained at Nep Town until 1957, when the new Fabians Way Infants School was opened. The school on the Common closed in 1984, and all the children now attend the Fabians Way school. Prior to the opening of the Secondary Modern School at Steyning (now part of the Grammar School) in 1952, most children would have received all their education at the village School.

In the 20th century, other private schools opened in the village. For a short period around 1913, Miss Jackson ran an infants school at Ansty House in the High Street. In 1920 Miss Light ran an infants school for a handful of children, firstly at 2 Alpha Villas in Upper Station Road (now demolished) and later at "Chong" in Upper Station Road. This school carried on at least until the late 1940s. A junior school was run at  the Grey House in Cagefoot Lane possibly from the 1940s. In the 1960s it was taken over by Mrs. Prince and closed in the early 1980s. Martyn Lodge was a private boys' school run by Mr. R.C. Mayers from c1928 until the outbreak of the war. It was described as a "coaching establishment for boys", and some of its pupils played cricket for Henfield.