The only school that appears ever to have existed in Alderton itself was a small establishment, conducted by a Mrs. Durrant in one of the cottages later amalgamated into the single dwelling known as Longcroft, which functioned during the middle decades of the 19th. century. There was no school listed at Alderton in a survey of about 1840, but in 1870 the dame school had ten pupils (seven boys and three girls) and was supported by the payment of fees, there was also a night school in Alderton at this date, with seven pupils under 12 and 10 aged between 12 and 21, which was supported partly by fees and partly by voluntary contributions.

Rather better provision for younger children came from a National School established in 1844 to serve both Alderton and Grafton Regis, largely at the initiative of the incumbent of the two parishes, the Revd. B.J. Sams. The school was housed in one of the cottages (probably on the site of ‘The Moorshead’, in the 1600s it was an ale house, later becoming a farm house), as it was a large room of 4800 Cubicals, this is probably the only dwelling in the village to have such a large room) until 1873, when a schoolroom and mistress’ house were built on the main road near the northern edge of the village on the site of ‘The Moorshead’. The Alderton children walked across the fields to the school, which in the late 19th. century had up to 40 children on the roll. Under a trust deed of 1871 the churchwardens of Alderton were among the managers of the school. The School opened in May 1873 with accommodation for 72 pupils.

In the 1920s the school still had about 15 pupils but in 1933-4 the figure dropped to 8 (of whom 2 were from Alderton), since children over 11 were now attending larger schools in neighbouring villages. The parents of the Alderton children were unhappy at their having to walk to school unaccompanied. Closure was precipitated by the headmistress’ decision to resign on marriage, of which she gave notice in the autumn of 1933. Despite opposition from the local managers, led by the Rector, and the Archidiaconal Education Committee, the school closed at Easter 1934, when the Alderton children transferred to Paulerspury and the Grafton children went to Yardley Gobion.

Neither village was happy with this decision, since in both cases the children had to travel a greater distance than before, but less than the two-miles minimum at which the local authority could meet the cost of transport.