Minehead First School

This school at Townsend was built as a Catholic school to replace the building in Selbourne Place. It opened in 1926 as St Teresa’s school for boarders and day pupils from 5 to 11 for boys and 5 to 18 for girls. In the 1930s it was extended to provide a science block and gymnasium and took over adjoining Blair Lodge. It remained open as a primary school until 1970 when it was merged with Minehead council primary school, which had outgrown the premises in Watery Lane.

The new school had 261 children and 11 teachers but despite becoming a first school in 1971 pupil numbers rose to 266 children in 1980 and 340 by 1998.