Rearsby Village School in its Early Days….  For the greater part of the nineteenth century most of the rural population was illiterate, and not many children were fortunate enough to receive an education. Early records are sketchy, but in 1818 three poor children in Rearsby received instruction from a schoolmistress who was paid £1 per annum from the Faunt’s Gift charity, these children were selected by the Rector. Other children may well have walked daily to the school in Syston, or attended a dame school in the village. Dame schools were small private schools for young children run by women; such schools were the precursors of nursery, or infant, schools in England. They existed in England possibly before the 16th century in both towns and rural areas and survived well into the 19th century.