May 2020

12 Buckden Roundabout May 2020 Buckden school history 150 years of school—or is it? 2020 marks 150 years of school as the Elementary Education Act was passed in 1870. However, Buckden has had an active school since before the Act was passed. In the first of a series of articles, we look at Buckden School both before and after the Elementary Education Act. If you have any memories or photos of Buckden School you would like to share, please email them to us! The Elementary Education Act The Elementary Education Act of 1870 was the first of a num- ber of acts of parliament passed between 1870 and 1893 to create compulsory education in England and Wales for children aged between five and 13. It was known as The Forster Act after its sponsor, William Forster, a Liberal MP. In this important Act, the government finally accepted respon- sibility for the education of the nation's children. It was, how- ever, only the start of a process which would take more than twenty years to complete. The Elementary Education Act brought into force that: • Local education boards should inspect schools to ensure there were sufficient places • Elementary education must be provided for children aged between five and 13 • Schools should be publicly funded • Parents had to pay for their children ’ s education (9d/ week), unless they could not afford to • Attendance should be compulsory • Religious teaching should be non - denominational, and that parents could withdraw their children from reli- gious education • Schools should be regularly inspected to maintain the standard of education The Act was controversial. The areas that caused controversy were the provision of religious education and the public subsi- dy. Some people wanted specific schools that would promote denominational education, while the established church feared its power to run schools would be lost. Some people were fearful of the idea of mass education, oth- ers felt that state subsidy for education was threatening. The Act retained the requirement for parents to pay fees when they could afford to, and for the state to pay for those who could not. Religious instruction was retained but didn ’ t favour any one Christian group over another. The Act allowed voluntary schools to carry on unchanged, but covered them by the newly - established local education board. Voluntary schools could provide religious teaching and the boards were locally elected bodies which drew their funding from the local rates. Buckden School – Pre Elementary Education Act Schooling in Buckden was well established two centuries be- fore the Elementary Education Act of 1870 made its provision statutory. Buckden is recorded to have had both charity and national schools during this time. The Charity School In 1661, a prominent member of the community, Robert Ray- ment, died and in his will instructed his heirs to pay the Minis- ter and church wardens of Buckden ten pounds a year for a teacher, “ for as long as the world indures [sic] ”. This was to be for the schooling of girls and boys whose parents would not otherwise be able to pay to go to school. The lessons would be English and religious education. He even instructed that the children should be tested by the Minister to ensure the teacher was doing a good job. Robert Rayment ’ s meticulous arrangements were carried out and a schoolmaster was appointed in 1665. Receipts for the money were recorded twice a year in the Churchwardens ’ Ac- count Book until it ended in 1774. His charity still exists today (albeit no longer in his name) and is used by the school and the Church Sunday School. John Green, Bishop of Lincoln, who died in 1779 also left mon- ey to Buckden school in his will. £200 was bequeathed in trust, the dividends of which were paid to the school master, for teaching of reading and writing. The list of teachers at the Charity School includes five members of the Burder family, in three generations. For three short peri- ods the teacher was a woman, and for three years the vicar did the job himself, either because a suitable candidate was not available or to supplement his stipend. Most remarkably, for two years (1706 - 7) the post was held by a woman who was unable to sign her own name. Buckden school, with its paid schoolmaster and school - house, was to be the nucleus for growth in the nineteenth century. The duty of the master at this time was to instruct 30 boys, the children of settled parishioners in Buckden. The boys were ap- pointed by the minister and were taught “ reading, writing and accounts and in the principles of religion, according to the doc- trine of the Church of England ” for free. The National School In 1842, according to the Preliminary Statement submitted in 1870 concerning the existing schools, a Girls ’ School was founded under the aegis of the Anglican National Society. (Continued on page 16)