One of the earliest attempts to educate the children of Checkley was in April 1734 when it was agreed to pay the sum of £5 per annum from the public vestry “for the payment of a schoolmaster to teach a selection of poor children”. At this time the building, the Endowed School, was at the edge of the churchyard behind the Old Rectory.
However the arrangement was short lived and by the early 1800s the building had fallen into disuse. It was not until William Hutchinson took over as Rector of the village in 1839 that the idea of general public education was revived. There had been the private boarding school for young ladies at Manor House since about 1800 and this was to continue until around 1860.
In 1840, a year after the Rector's arrival in the village, he arranged for the building of a small school behind Glebe Cottage. It was supported entirely by the Rector and used as a Sunday School until 1874 when it became the Checkley National Day School. For a few years prior to 1880 there had been rumours of the introduction of compulsory education and in preparation for this Rev Hutchinson promoted the building of a new school which was financed by subscriptions from the Checkley parishioners and friends of the Rector. This school was built on the opposite side of the Uttoxeter Road from the churchyard. By the time that the new building was opened on 2 November 1879 the Rector had died so he did not see the finished building and in recognition of the fine work that he had done for the village over the previous 40 years the school was named The Hutchinson Memorial School.
The Rector was right – compulsory education for children between the ages of 5 and 10 years of age was introduced in 1880 although education was not free until 1891. There was however quite a lot of truancy as many parents preferred their children to work on the local farms or in the mills in order to earn a few pence rather than going to school.
The Hutchinson Memorial School has gone on from strength to strength since it was founded over 130 years ago.