A Board school for girls, designed by W.H. Higginbottom in 1894 and completed in 1896. A textbook example of a central hall plan. A buttressed brick building with an ornate stone entrance porch in the ‘Queen Anne’ style. Stone lintels with brick hoodmoulds. Internally pleasingly complete, with doors, partition, floor surfaces and roof structures surviving. Of particular interest is the unusual pulpit in the central hall. Boundary wall and gate survive, as do the covered playgrounds and outside toilets, the latter a particular rarity. (NCC Schools Survey 2004)(1)

Elaborate stone door surround with moulded and fluted pilasters. Carved stone above the overlight reads "ARNOLD SCHOOL BOARD GIRLS SCHOOL". The pediment above has a carved shiled with the date A.D.1896. Windows to the porch were still original timber sashes in May 2022. The porch and the eaves to the flanking gables have a dogtooth design in brick and stone. Gables also have decorative stone kneelers. Now in commercial use accommodating various businesses inlcuding a carehome.(2)

Board Schools (1870 to 1903). All Board schools were built as a result of the 1870 Education Act. They form part of the very first phase of large-scale country wide investment in educational services. This was a momentous point in the history of the country as well as the county that marked the beginning of the compulsory education system. Board school buildings are generally of good architectural quality for the time and have a distinct appearance that is readily associated with both heritage and the education system of the county. They are often in highly focal locations that may contribute to the local townscape and sense of place. In Nottinghamshire they were designed by a variety of architects. The pre-eminent architects are unlikely to have produced more than one or two schools so it should be assumed, until otherwise proven, that each one is unique. (1)

<1> NCC, 2004, NCC Schools Survey (DR2817) (Unpublished document). SNT5343.

<2> J Buckley (NCC), Observations by Janine Buckley MA (NCC) (Personal comment). SNT5239.