Before the school moved into this room it housed the larder and buttery (for storage of beer and wine).
Up to 60 boys studied in this one room, regardless of age or ability. Corporal punishment was used to keep order. The cornerstone of their education was Latin, and boys received a deep grounding in Latin language and literature.
They would have memorised long pieces of rhetoric and literature and analysed the mechanics of poetry and prose in detail.
Pupils sat on forms according to their age, those there today are made using Arden forest oak from land once owned by Shakespeare’s granddaughter.