July 2020

12 Buckden Roundabout July2020 Buckden school history 150 years of school—or is it? Development of School and Lessons 2020 marks 150 years of school as the Elementary Education Act was passed in 1870. However, Buckden has had an active school since before this Act was passed. In the third of a series of articles, we look at Buckden School following the Elementary Education Act through the Victorian era. You can access previous editions of Roundabout via www.buckdenroundabout.info t o find out more about the Ele- mentary Education Act and Buckden School. If you have any memories or photos of Buckden School you would like to share, please email them to us! The Victorian Board Schools (continued from last month) The number of children on the school registers rose to unprec- edented heights in the 1880s, and in 1889 the accommodation was again found to be inadequate: School Room (mixed) 40' 2'' by 20' 3'' by 12' 2'' high = at 8 sq ft per scholar, 101.6 School Room (infants) 44' 2" by 20' 4" by 13' 7" high = at 8 sq ft per scholar, 112.2. To improve the situation a new classroom was built in 1894, 25' by 20' by 16' = (at 10 sq ft) 50 scholars. Ironically the school population began to drop not long there- after. Within these big rooms the children sat at long desks, up to 12' in length. In 1889 the headmaster rearranged them facing him to make instruction easier. The infants sat in a ‘ gallery ’ of seats in tiers (the little ones at the front) until it was removed in 1930. Besides their close proximity in the classrooms, the children also faced the hazards of the ‘ closets ’ or ‘ offices ’ which were a frequent cause of complaint from the Inspectors. The boys used dry - earth lavatories, and the girls ’ drained into a cess - pit. There were many complaints about the ‘ flies and stench ’ and the probable link with diphtheria outbreaks. Many experi- ments with different chemicals and routines were carried out: a pupil at the school in the early 1940s remembers there being two small outbuildings, each containing two buckets, one large, one small, with wooden seats; if they were not regularly emptied, they overflowed into the playground. Hygiene was not helped by there being no water - supply to the school until 1949, and the problem was not satisfactorily solved until 1956, when ‘ water - borne ’ toilets, as the correspondence quaintly refers to them, were installed. The premises were heated, often inadequately, by a coal - burning stove in the boys ’ room and by coal fires in the girls ’. Later all three classrooms were heated by coke stoves, whose tops would glow red - hot in winter. To deliver the coke, the coalman simply tipped it over the wall into the playground. There were lamps: a later pupil recalls two hanging from the ceiling in the boys ’ room but, he says, they were lit only once during his school career. Instead, the school hours were adjust- ed so that there was a shorter dinner hour in winter, the after- noon beginning at 1:45 pm and ending at 3:45 pm. It is unfortunate that (as in this case of ‘ daylight - saving ’) the main evidence about the timetable is where alterations were made to it; nowhere is preserved a record of the teaching schedule of the school. Certainly the school schedule was operated rigidly: even such minor changes as transposing reading and writing were noted in the Log Book. Sometimes changes in the curriculum were proposed by the Inspector, as in 1874: ‘ The children must be taught at least twelve songs next year, none of which have a denominational character. ’ By isolating strengths and weaknesses, the inspectors ’ reports add further information about subjects taught: for instance geography and grammar attracted attention in 1877. There was much rote - learning and lists of poetry to be learned for the inspection appear annually in the Log Books. Slates were used in the Infants, ruled for handwriting practice; copybooks in the Juniors. ‘ Object lessons ’ were also listed in the Log Books and covered such diverse topics as ‘ cotton ’, ‘ salt ’ and ‘ day and night ’. The Girls did needlework (of course). But the teaching did not en- tirely lack enterprise: in 1900 the Headmaster was prepared to alter the timetable to allow the children to watch an eclipse, and there were other diversions. The teaching staff who had to cope with all this varied almost month to month. The boys ’ school had a certificated master who managed with the help of monitors in 1871, but a dozen years later when it was a mixed school there were two pupil - teachers to assist him. For long periods the master had no as- sistance at all and it is no wonder he sometimes reached the end of his patience: ‘ April 16 th 1895 Had to give the boy a thrashing for obstinacy …. Having the whole of the work to do myself this waste of time cannot be borne. ’ This same teacher survived, though his temper was notorious, to resign in 1923 after 32 years ’ service. The pressure on teachers and pupils were enormous. In 1889 the Headmaster wrote: ‘ February 25 th It is the desire of manag- ers that the children be so efficiently instructed that they pass (Continued on page 13) 26th July 1899; “ Group II ” Brian and Verna Smith