A Brief History of Tavernspite School

Tavernspite School was founded as a Church School in 1845. The original building was on a site opposite the present school, which is now occupied by the Beynon’s Court flats. It was a two-teacher school with 124 pupils in 1846. The catchment area of the school was always large and included children from ‘over the border’ in Carmarthenshire. Since the pupils walked to school, closures were frequent and like most rural schools attendance fluctuated according to the season.

The farming community and the school have always maintained close links. Older boys helped with seasonal work on local farms and the logbooks show that all children were encouraged to study agriculture and its attendant crafts.

Until 1944 children attended the school up to the age of 14, with the more able children taking the entrance examinations to Narberth or Whitland Secondary Schools. After this date all pupils over the age of eleven sat the 11+ examination which continued in this area until 1988; Whitland Grammar School was one of the last of its kind in Wales.

In 1953 building the new Tavernspite School began. It was opened in 1954 and at the same time control of the school passed to the Local Education Authority. The catchment area of the school increased with the closure of other local schools such as Amroth and Lampeter Velfrey. At present the school has approximately 220 pupils and over 30 staff.