Until 1856, when the National School was built, education in Ivybridge was provided by a number of private schools.

Between 1870 and 1902 school boards were established in England and Wales. These public bodies had the authority to establish and administer elementary schools under the Elementary Act 1870. They were able to raise funds from a rate, build and run non-denominational schools where inadequacy prevailed, pay the fees of the poorest children, and if deemed necessary, create a  by-law to make attendance compulsory between the ages of 5 and 13, before the Elementary Education Act 1880 included this. School boards were eventually replaced by local education authorities at the turn of the century.

The National School in Ivybridge was linked to St John’s Church under the trusteeship of the minister and wardens of the church.

The Blachford family of Cornwood owned the land on which the school was built. The school was granted a 999 year lease and the annual rent in 1876 was 5/-.

Between 1876 and 1885, the school came under the Ermington School Board.  A £600 loan was granted for alterations and improvements.

Ivybridge School Board was formed in 1895, using the same premises as the old National School. The managers of the school included representatives from the village churches.

The school was split into the Infants, with a School Mistress in charge and other female, mostly uncertified staff, and the Mixed School, for children aged 7 to 14, with a School Master in charge, assisted mostly by men, who were certified teachers.

By the 1940s, the school was known as the Ivybridge Council School. It played host to a number of evacuees from Acton, London. The White House (in Erme Road) also acted as a school room for some of the evacuees.

With the population of Ivybridge growing, the village school became increasingly overcrowded. In the education finance plan for 1971/2, funds were made available for a new school to be built at the western end of Ivybridge where new houses had been built after the war.

The Council School then became Station Road Infants School, with the Juniors accommodated at the newly built Manor Junior School.

In 1991, with primary school reorganisation, it became Erme Primary School.

Following several years of overcrowding in the village school (numbers reached 357 in June 1971), where temporary classrooms had been erected on the school playground and the school hall was used as a classroom, the building of a new school became a priority.

Built in 1972, the new school, Manor County Junior School, Ivybridge opened in Spring 1973, under headmaster Mr. Arthur Lynch who oversaw both schools, the old Ivybridge School now being known as Station Road Infants School.

When the school opened in March 1973, there were 179 pupils at Manor Junior School in five classes and 259 at Station Road Infants School in eight classes.

The school was officially opened on 28^th June 1973. Its first Sports Day was held at Wiggins Teape Sports Ground. Phase 2 of the new school was completed by 1975.

In 1991, with re-organisation, the school became Manor Primary School, with both Infants and Juniors in the same school. Station Road Infants School became Erme Primary School.

There are now 220 pupils taught in ten classes. The school is the only primary school in Ivybridge with its own heated swimming pool.

Stowford County Primary School was built in 1978 in the east of Ivybridge to accommodate the new housing estates being built there.

The school opened in Oct/Nov 1978 with headmaster David Taylor.

Pupils had to be accommodated at Manor Junior and Station Road Infants Schools because the school was not completed in time for the start of term in September.

The original school consisted of the northern teaching block (now the Key Stage 1 block), the hall and the library and administrative corridor. The southern block (Juniors) was built in 1981.

By 1988, a double hut had been added to the west of the main building and in the early 1990s, a second double hut was erected by the northern boundary wall. A single hut was erected between the original double hut and the main building.

In 1991, a fire destroyed the single hut and caused damage to the adjacent double, so all three were demolished. The insurance money paid for a new four-classroom wing to be built, joined onto the west side of the Infant block. It also provided storage areas, cloakrooms and toilets and a wide corridor for computers and group work. It was officially opened in 1993.

Two further ‘stand alone’ buildings  – the Qube and The Nest – were added in the 2000s to provide accommodation for the ‘Before/After School Club’ and extra space for musical and drama activities.

With local primary re-organisation 1991, it became Stowford Primary School.

In 2005, Helen Tipping became the Headteacher. She guided the school’s change to academy status in 2012, becoming known then as Stowford School.

Woodlands Park Primary School was built in 1991 to serve the new estate of houses built at Stibb Farm, to the west of the town centre.

In 1988, news reports showed the need for a new primary school in Ivybridge as it was ‘the fastest growing town in the EEC’. Work on the new school was due to start in Autumn 1989, ready for the school to open two years later. In January 1989, confirmation was received that work would start but by February, a shortfall in the County budget made a delay in building work almost certain. This led to protests by parents who lobbied County Hall for the money to be found as a matter of urgency.

Despite initial fears, Woodlands Park Primary School opened its doors to its first pupils on 6^th September 1991. It was built to accommodate 300 pupils.

In February 1992, forty trees were planted around the school grounds to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 40^th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

The first school disco was held in April 1992 and in May 1992, the school achieved first place in a choral speaking competition.

In June of that year, pupils started a campaign to stop vandals defacing the neighbouring park. They compiled questionnaires and took videos and presented their case at a South Hams District Council meeting at Follaton House in July.

To celebrate its first birthday, an animal patchwork tapestry included patches designed by all 140 pupils.

The school celebrated its 25^th Anniversary in 2016, with 306 pupils on roll.

Sunnyside School was a private school, run by Mrs. Sophie Harris. It ran from the 1930s (a newspaper advert gives the date 1932) to 1954 and occupied the two front rooms of the house now known as ‘Berberis’ in Blachford Road next to the Constitutional Club.

Former pupils remember open fires in the grate and the garden at the side was used as a playground. Pupils wore a brown uniform, unlike the village school children who did not have a uniform. Children could take 11+ to go to Plympton or Totnes Grammar Schools. The intake was mixed, with only younger boys and girls up to school leaving age.

All the pupils were taught in two adjoining rooms to the left of the front door, with the Principal’s office being in the room to the right. Messy activities took place in the kitchen at the back of the building. Children sat at wooden desks with the older ones at the back.

All the children received milk daily, brought to the school by Mrs Harris’s husband who was a farmer.