St. Nicholas Church of England Primary School remains as Blackpool’s oldest school still providing education within its original building, which still survives on School Road. The original school on the Moss was a dame school, a converted c1830 cottage on Division Lane. When it became too small (and it literally is the size of a cottage) the school moved across to School Road where it shared some of the church buildings and gradually extra buildings were added. It opened on April 16th 1873 as a one room school and schoolhouse with 79 pupils.
The present school was gifted to the people of the Moss by Lord of the Manor, Squire John Talbot Clifton, of Lytham Hall, with the intention of providing both religious and scholastic education. It was known then as Marton Moss Church of England School, which was extended in 1927 and later renamed St. Nicholas. In 2008 the school was given permission to meet a growing need for pupil places in the south of Blackpool and expanded to two form entry, receiving £5 million to create 80% of a new school whilst refurbishing the remaining 20%. This allowed the school to be extended again in 2009 to provide it with more educational facilities. A most notable teacher during the 1930s was Percy Hall who became an Honorary Freeman of Blackpool in June 1984.
A noted former pupil was Michael Smith who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1993 for discovering the secrets of DNA for medical advancement.
Text source: The School'swebsite
Images by © Deeper Blue Marketing & Design Ltd
