THEY don't know how lucky they are.

These schoolchildren helped celebrate 400 years of public education in their village by unveiling a plaque on the original schoolhouse.

Pupils at Uffington CofE Primary School, in the shadow of White Horse Hill, marked the quatercentenary on their annual Founders Day on Thursday, July 13.

The annual event celebrates the life of Thomas Saunders, the wealthy landowner from Woolstone who founded the original school for 12 local boys in 1617.

It also celebrates his son – also called Thomas Saunders – who established a trust to fund education in Uffington in perpetuity.

Education moved to a new school in 1872, and this original building is now home to Uffington's Tom Brown's School Museum, a memorial to the village's most famous – if fictional – schoolboy, created by yet another Tom – Thomas Hughes.

So museum staff also joined the educational celebrations at the plaque unveiling.

Maxine Parsons, who is one of the trustees of the Saunders Trust, said: "As this is such a special year the trust commissioned a memorial plaque.

"The school is a central part of our village and highly valued by the villagers, including those in Woolstone and Baulking.

"The Founders Day Service is one that is long remembered by those children who take part in it and it is hoped that this will continue for many years to come."