This year, we celebrate the fact that Laxton Junior School is 50 years old!
The original premises for LJS were on North Street, in what is now known as Old Dryden. The school moved to its current premises on East Road in 2002 and presently has around 260 day pupils on its roll. Whilst it does not have the centuries of history afforded to Oundle School, it both celebrates and embraces the traditions, educational principles and values established by Sir William Laxton all those years ago.
Over the next few decades, LJS grew in both numbers and stature. Miss Pat Ogden presided over the construction of a new hall and additional classrooms in the 1980s and continued as Head until 1989, when her successor Miss Sue Thomas took over as Head until 2008. In her time, LJS moved to its current, purpose-built home on East Road. Mark Potter was appointed as the third Head, taking over in 2008 before handing over to Mr Sam Robertson in 2017. The current Head is Mrs Lydia Waller, who joined LJS in September 2023, just as the school celebrates its 50th year.
LJS is now a school with 260 boys and girls aged 4 through to 11, over twice its original size. It is a school small enough for everyone to know and look out for each other, but big enough to have great reach across all aspects of its curriculum and beyond.
The majority of LJS pupils move to Oundle School as the natural next step and we work together as one school to ensure this move is as seamless as can be. Whilst this is true, the priority is that our children move on to the right senior school for them. In some cases Oundle will not be the best option and we work closely with families and alternative senior schools to ensure that all decisions have the children’s best interests at heart.
The school is located within several acres of beautiful green-land in Oundle and whilst it benefits from its own sport pitches and facilities, it also makes the most of its links with Oundle School, including regular access to its extensive amenities.
Oundle School’s history dates back to 1556 when Sir William Laxton, Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers and Lord Mayor of London, endowed and re-founded the original Oundle Grammar School, of which he was a former pupil. In 1876, the Grocers’ Company decided to divide Oundle School into two parts: Laxton Grammar School, mainly for the inhabitants of the town, and Oundle School, mainly for pupils from further afield. In the new millennium, the Governing Body decided to reunite the two schools under the common name of Oundle School, with Laxton as a House for day pupils.
