Sandhurst Infants School, Minard Road, Catford, 1951

Sandhurst Infants School, Minard Road, Catford, 1952

The school was bombed at lunchtime on 20th January 1943 with the loss of 38 children and 6 teachers. Many others were injured. Further details of the tragic bombing of this school during WWII are available at the Sandhurst Schools Web site.

A school was first opened in Minard Road in 1896 to educate children on the new Corbett Estate.

The present building opened in 1904, with 300 infants on the ground floor, 380 boys on the first floor and 382 girls on the second floor. In those days there were 60 children in each class and all the rooms were heated by open coke or coal fires.

These images show pupils in front of the main entrance to the rebuilt part of the 1904 building, and are typical of photographs that exist from the period all around the country.