By 1928, the Southern Railway was well served by large 4-6-0 express passenger locomotives, but there was an urgent need for a class to fulfill intermediate roles throughout the system.

[citation needed] Maunsell’s original plan was to use large-wheeled 2-6-4 tank engines for this purpose, but the Sevenoaks railway accident made him have second thoughts.

[7] They also had a higher tractive effort than the nominally more powerful King Arthur class 4-6-0s, but at the cost of high axle-loading: 21 long tons (21 t).

[9] Permission was granted for the first batch of fifteen locomotives in March 1928, but this was reduced to ten when it became apparent that they would not immediately be able to operate on the Hastings route.

[13] Extension of the class meant that names from "foreign" schools outside the Southern Railway catchment area were used, including Rugby and Malvern.

[3] However no discernible improvement to draughting was experienced, and only twenty examples were so modified, the most obvious change in their appearance being the large diameter chimney.

[18] The class was frequently regarded by locomotive crews as the finest constructed by the Southern Railway up to 1930, and could turn in highly spectacular performances for its size.

[19] The fastest recorded speed for these locomotives was 95 mph (153 km/h), achieved near Wool railway station in 1938 by 928 Stowe pulling a four coach train from Dorchester to Wareham.

[20] However, there was a drawback with such high power and relatively low weight; when starting the locomotive from a standstill, wheelslips frequently occurred, calling for skilled handling on the footplate.

[citation needed] The footplate crews regarded them so highly that more of the class were constructed for other parts of the network, although the electrification of the Southern's Eastern Section meant that they were dispersed from their original working grounds.

[citation needed] When built, the Schools Class were outshopped in Maunsell's darker version of the LSWR passenger sage green livery lined in black and white, with cabside numberplates and "Southern" and the loco number on the tender in yellow.

[26] Following this the locomotives were repainted British Railways mixed traffic lined black and given the power classification 5P, as only the larger passenger locos were painted green.

The erstwhile Kitmaster company produced an unpowered polystyrene injection moulded model kit for OO gauge, which went on sale in March 1959.

Hornby Railways produce a super-detail and a cheaper railroad version based on their old tender drive OO gauge model of the Schools Class.