the original house c. 1904. In 1905, there were 93 pupils on roll, 23 of them boarders and 3 of them boys. In 1909, the company secretary asked the Board of Education about the school's eligibility for grants under the Regulations for Secondary Schools; the Board advised that the school would be eligible if the company were wound down and converted into an Educational Trust under a scheme made by the Board of Education. The Board would regard the paid-up share capital of £2,250 as debentures, which could be redeemed within 30 years. Four years later, the county council inquired about having the school registered as a Pupil Teacher Centre, but in 1914 the Board would not allow this as the school was still being run for profit. 1919–44: Conversion to state school and new buildings In 1918, the county council decided to take over the running of the school and purchase its premises. The company was voluntarily wound up in December 1918. The takeover was completed in 1919, and it was around this time that the name changed to Kesteven and Sleaford High School. The school remained fee-paying (with the exception of scholarship students), still accepted boarders and retained its preparatory school for young children (including boys). In 1920, wooden huts were added on a stretch of unkept grassland called "The Wilderness". The new building provided an office for the headmistress, a biology room, an assembly hall, a cloakroom and three classrooms. Two brick rooms were added in 1924, the original house was extended in 1927, the garden path was covered in 1929, and another wooden classroom was added c. 1930. Plans to completely rebuild the school were drawn up in the early 1930s, but were never enacted; more temporary buildings were added in 1937. 1944–70: Postwar expansion and abolition of fees The Education Act 1944 made secondary education available to all children up to the age of 15 and abolished fees for state-schooling; a "tripartite system" of secondary schooling was established to provide curricula based on aptitude and ability: grammar schools for "academic" pupils, secondary moderns for practical studies, and technical schools for science and engineering. Pupils were allocated to them depending on their score in the eleven-plus examination. As a result, KSHS wound down its preparatory school during the mid-1940s and the County Selection Examination was used for all admissions. The playground and netball pitch was replaced