A very long time in some village school (4)

I believe the answer is:

ages

'a very long time' is the definition.
(ages can informally mean a long period)

'in some village school' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates a hidden word.
'AGES' is hidden within 'some village school'.

(Other definitions for ages that I've seen before include "Donkey's years" , "Matures" , "Aeons" , "Gets older" , "Historic periods or prolonged time" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times (Crosaire) and The Irish Times.

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