New Barns School Archive

Reference number	NEWBARNS
Level of description	Collection
Date(s)	1965-1989
Extent and medium	Appox. 310 boxes
Category	School
Scope and content	Papers of New Barns School including minutes, daily adminstrative records, pupil files, photographs and other ephemera.
History	New Barns School was a residential school and therapeutic community for children had experienced emotional and psychological trauma. The School opened in 1965 in the Gloucestershire village of Toddington. The house and grounds had been purchased by the Homer Lane Trust earlier in the year for the purpose of establishing a school along the lines of the pioneering Barns Hostel and School in Peebles, Scotland. John Cross was appointed principle. Roy Frye, Helen Frye and Cynthia Cross were the first members of staff. The school could accommodate 32 children in addition to the five adults. In 1989 prominent members of staff were accused of multiple counts of abuse by several pupils. All the defendants were cleared at Bristol Crown Court, however the School did not reopen. The building and half the grounds were sold and the proceeds used to establish the New Barns Archive and Study Centre in a former school accommodation block under the control of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust.
Name of creator(s)	New Barns School
Access status	MIXED
Language	ENG

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