St Marylebone Institutions

While today, education is a right which is accessible for all, this was not always the case. Until 1918, there was no free education for all. Thus, during the 18th and 19th centuries, Church and Ragged Schools sprang up to educate poor and working-class children and also sometimes provided food, clothing and somewhere to sleep for their students.

The Ragged School in Grotto Passage off Marylebone High Street was established in 1845. 240 boys, girls, and infants were documented as attending the day schools of the Ragged School, while 60 elder boys and girls are reported to have been enrolled in the night schools. The Sunday school reported around 150 students.

The St Marylebone Charity School was founded in 1750, providing one of the first opportunities for orphans, child street sweepers, pickpockets who lives on the streets, and children from poor families, to receive an education. By 1833, the School had over 100 students, all girls, for whom they provided clothing, housing, and care. The girls who attended this school took classes in reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, sewing, and cooking. Students would attend this school until the age of 15, when they left to find work in local households.

This school was later taken over by the Government for Education and became the St Marylebone Educational Foundation. Today, the school is known as the St Marylebone CE School, and continues to educate girls with a commitment to inspiring a love of learning and and fostering a genuine respect for all members of our multi-cultural, multi-faith community. As a church school, it nurtures respect for religious, moral and spiritual values.