The former Hyde School was built in 1879 and continued to serve the educational needs of its community for 120 years. The now tiny settlement of Hyde was founded during the gold rushes of the early 1860s. Miners poured into the district, and a thriving town developed to cater for their needs. Once the rush was over some of the miners remained in the district to take up farming and other businesses. Hyde's first schools were short-lived private institutions, but none lasted long. Finally, in 1869, an official public school opened in the Union Church building. Seymour Saunders, the first teacher, had a class of 22 children.

Eventually the school committee decided that the school needed better accommodation than the small iron church - "cold as an icicle in the winter, sweltering hot in the summer" - and in 1879 contracted Palmerston builder Robert Highet to erect a schoolroom. The simple wooden school was built on a site which had been granted to the Provincial Government by the Crown in 1876 for educational purposes. With the abolition of provincial government and the passing of the Education Act of 1877, the land became the property of the Education Board of the district of Otago.

The school continued to grow, and by 1893 eighty children crowded into its one room. This prompted the addition of a second classroom, forming a north wing to the original building. Local carpenters John Mackie and William Wright built the new wing in 1894 at a price of ₤191. Both the original building and the 1893 addition are likely to have been designed by John Somerville, the then Otago Education Board's architect. Both sections are of very simple but functional design.

Although the school never grew beyond these two classrooms, various amenities were added in the twentieth century. In 1956 an ablution block was added, a welcome replacement to the old long-drops behind the school. Sports grounds were improved over the years and in 1969 the centennial celebrations included the opening of a swimming pool. A new teacher's residence and garage were built in 1960, a new staff room relocated from Patearoa in 1976 and for some years a re-locatable staff flat added to the school complex.

Through all these changes, the two nineteenth-century classrooms remained the core of the school. In addition to minor renovations, these underwent some larger changes in the 1970s and 1980s, with replacement of the windows and relining of the interiors. The old potbelly stoves were also replaced with multi-fuel burners and electric heating. The last major change to the building came in 1996, when the timber exterior was re-clad with roughcast plaster.

In addition to schooling, the building has been used for various community activities over the years. In 1994, for example, it was a venue for a playgroup, Plunket meetings, and clinics for the Doctor and Public Health Nurse. As the school-age population of Hyde declined in the late twentieth century and government education policies changed, keeping the school going became increasingly difficult, despite much community support. Hyde School finally closed at the end of 1999, with just four pupils in its final year.

The former Hyde School stands as a representative example of an institution of great importance in New Zealand history - the country primary school. Many New Zealand children were educated in such classrooms, which also served as centres of small and remote communities throughout the land.