Martha Jane Norris School

In 1881, Martha Jane Norris, a young woman from Langley, became Surrey's first school teacher. It wasn't a fancy school that she acquired but an old rambling house belonging to the Robinson family. By today's standard, school conditions were primitive, with no running water and only an old wood stove for heat. Washrooms, of course, were "outback" and textbooks were scarce. Conditions being what they were, Miss Norris had no discipline problems with children of all ages eager to learn. Besides, attending school was probably much easier for them than cleaning out the barn.

The school was set amid a field of clover, well back from the southwest corner of the Old McLelland Road and Pacific Highway. Today, a marker stands at the Surrey Fair Grounds on the northeast corner of the Pacific Highway and Old McLelland Road in commemoration of the site.  The school remained at the Robinson House for a year, later moving to a fancy new school built by the government at the corner of Old McLelland and Clark Roads.

Originally the school was called Mary Jane Norris until a historian noticed the error and restored the name to Martha Jane Norris. Martha Jane Norris Elementary opened in 1958 at 11616 - 99th Avenue and was closed in 1984, due to declining enrolments. On December 15, 1989, Martha Jane Norris Elementary was opened at this location.