Molesworth ES/JHS History
Opened: 1951
Closed: 1974
The first dependents’ school in the Alconbury area was opened at RAF Molesworth in 1951. Doors were open to the Molesworth Dependents’ School for the first time in September 1951. With the new school there were seven faculty members including principal Mrs. Marjie Willoughby. Although there were only six teachers, there were eight grades. The fifth and sixth grades were combined as were the seventh and eighth. Approximately 140 students were enrolled. Five English buses traveled 200 miles a day taking students to and from school.
School reopened after the summer holidays in September 1956 with several changes evident. The teaching staff was increased to twelve teachers, to take care of nine grades which included two first and two second grades. For the overflow in the third and fourth grades, a combination third and fourth was formed. There were now approximately 270 students enrolled in the entire school with seventy-one of these attending the junior high school. The students came from Molesworth, Alconbury, Chelveston and Chicksands, and included dependents of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Eight English buses now took the students to and from school covering an average distance of four hundred and fifty miles per day. Seven new classrooms were constructed to accommodate the increased enrollment and facilitate the departmentalization of the junior high school. In 1967 the tenth grade was added.
The RAF Molesworth School closed in June 1974 and its activities were relocated to the schools at RAF Alconbury.
Information from yearbooks and DoDDS School Guides