The school

Before the Revolution, only the clergy took care of communal education. During his visit to the church in 1717, Claude Maur d'Aubigné noted: "Let us also enjoin the parish priest to have a clerk both to help them sing the services every feast day and Sunday, to help him administer the sacraments and to keep the school for the little boys". It was therefore left to the good pleasure of the prelates directing the diocese. In Grugny, as everywhere else, the parish priest probably gave some rudiments of teaching, essentially religious.

We have to go back to the year 1794 to see a Sieur Vaillant ask to run the schools of the commune. In 1812, we find more precise information: the children of the parishes of Ormesnil, Frichemesnil, Les Authieux sur Clères and Grugny went to the school of La Houssaye Béranger and paid a total sum of 60 francs per year for housing allowance to the teacher, in the following proportions: La Houssaye Béranger 22 frs, Frichemesnil 17 frs,  Ormesnil 8 frs, Grugny 7 frs, Les Authieux 6 frs.

The 4/5 of the wealthiest children also paid per month, for the most advanced class 1 fr. 50, for those to whom reading and writing were taught 1 fr. 20, for those who learned only to read 0.75.

In 1817 the communes of Ormesnil, Frichemesnil and Les Authieux stopped sending their children to La Houssaye, hence partial wages for which the master complained bitterly.

On 28 February 1818, the Municipal Council of Grugny asked to be relieved of the school contribution, as only two pupils attended the school of La Houssaye, the others taking lessons from the teachers of Clères and Frichemesnil.

In 1821, Mr. Boucher, a teacher in La Houssaye, renewed his grievances and asked that Grugny's annual allowance be increased from 7 francs to 15 francs.

In 1826, steps were taken to ensure that girls who had been sent to the school of the Sisters of Ernemont in Clères could preferably attend the school in La Houssaye. The Grugny Municipal Council voted unanimously to maintain the status quo, finding the usual practice practical and sufficient.

One can imagine how painful and precarious the situation of the rural teacher was, forced to come to sometimes humiliating pleas in order to ensure a school attendance capable of supporting him and his family.

In 1833, the fundamental law of primary education was finally promulgated, to which Guizot attached his name.

On February 2, 1834, the Municipal Council, consulted on the reunion of the commune of Grugny at the school of La Houssaye, said that all the fathers of families without exception sent their children to Clères, where there was a primary school for girls directed by the Sisters of Ernemont, and that the teacher of La Houssaye was omnipotent (?).

In 1860 there was a new difficulty, Grugny refusing to pay 1/5 of the 200 frs salary of the teacher in Clères. In the following years, however, allowances were paid, as mentioned in the deliberations of the municipal councils.

Finally, on 7 September 1888, it was decided to open a mixed school in Grugny for the education of the 30 children aged 6 to 13 who attended the overcrowded schools in Clères. But nothing happened.

In 1893, the Prefect sent a letter to the mayor asking him to build a school for his commune as a matter of urgency. The municipal council decided on 26 November to add a town hall and accommodation for the teacher.

 It was not until 1900 that the project was realized. The architect in charge of the construction of the town hall-school complex was Mr. Rémi Martin, assisted by Messrs. Eugène Lagnel, a building contractor in Grigneuseville, Victor Lainay, a roofing contractor in Clères, Alfred Cottard of St Clair sur les Monts for carpentry and painting.

The school was opened on October 1, 1901 by Mr. Rémy Busvestre. Subsequently appointed to Bonsecours, he was replaced by Mr Verlaguet who gave the school a serious impetus. His name  can be read on the town's war memorial (he died on July 23, 1919).