First a little History.

The first day school was established in Camelsdale by a Mr H G Yatman .
This was replaced by the Bell School, where Mr Yatman's son, a Mr Edward Yatman taught evening classes.
Mr Edward Yatman was one of the first members of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and he competed at the Wimbledon championships.

The information below has been taken from the School Log Book.
All schools were required to keep a Log Book.
Although it is no longer a requirement today, Sarah Palmer is keeping Camelsdale's Log Book up to date.

  
This is the original Log Book started in 1901

On September 30th 1901 The Bell School was opened at The Sussex Bell with 29 children.
The Head Mistress was Florence Isabel Pinnell.

On October the 1st 1903 the Bell School had a new headmistress, Isabel Marsden.

On March 29th 1904 she wrote the following entry in the School Logbook;-

"I have received notice to keep the children who are over 10 years of age at the 'Bell' School,
as the new school is expected shortly to be built."

By this time there were 48 children attending the school.

An entry, dated September 5th 1904, in the School Logbook  read as follows:-

'Copy of H.M.I's report on the school for the year ending May 31st 1904.
"The Mistress is working well under most trying conditions. The premises could scarcely be worse in all respects. They are absolutely unsuitable for a school" Signed James Hill '.

September 13th 1904
"I have this morning received notice to begin school at the new buildings at Camelsdale to-morrow."

September 14th 1904
"Opened school at Camelsdale. Am not admitting more children until Monday because of teacher difficulty."

So the School will be 100 years old on the 14th September 2004, which is why we have chosen Saturday 18th as the date for the Birthday Celebration Party at the school.