Discover how the first year of compulsory education effected a small village community in the Quantocks Hills in this blog researched and written by Unlocking the Archives project volunteer Gill Young.
The 1870 Education Act for the first time introduced compulsory attendance at school for children in England aged five to twelve years. This resulted in a flurry of building or repurposing of existing school premises in every city, town and village. A small number of schools for poor children had existed in Somerset earlier, such as the ten established by Hannah More in the Mendips in the late eighteenth century. And in 1808 the British and Foreign School Society was founded by non-conformists. It later developed as a teacher training organisation. In 1811 the Church of England created the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church. Although these societies and Sunday schools provided some basic primary education for poor children it was variable in quality, range of subjects and access.
Ash Priors Village School
The 1870 Act brought about major change which resulted in the opening of a Mixed National School in Ash Priors on the 08 February 1876. (Most of the schools opened in the Quantock villages in the 1870s were Church of England National Schools.) Forty-three children were admitted in the morning, with an additional child joining in the afternoon, this appears to be the highest number recorded, the average being about thirty children, aged between four and thirteen years. The teaching was undertaken by Louise Pullin, appointed as Schoolmistress and the vicar, the Rev. Stephen Campbell Day. An initial assessment documented in the school’s logbook states that the children had “little or no knowledge of arithmetic, reading, writing, spelling bad. Multiplication tables not known.”
School Life, 1876 -1877
The school year followed the Church and agricultural calendar, with whole or half days off for religious holidays e.g., Shrove Tuesday, and to attend local events such as a May Day fete in Bishops Lydeard, but initially with only a week off in the summer. Keeping the children in school proved difficult as they were required for agricultural work such as potato planting and picking, apple picking, and minding a farmer’s cows. During June and July irregular and low attendance was recorded as children were required at home to care for younger siblings whilst their parents were working in the fields, haymaking, and absence due to illness and bad weather were another factor. Many parents voiced opposition to the school’s discipline, requirement for punctuality and home lessons (work). The Schoolmistress found all these problems very difficult and resigned the following year.
Weekly entries in the school’s logbook indicate the children were learning reading, writing, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, multiplication tables and geography and religious knowledge. The girl’s also learnt needlework. Initially books especially for grammar and geography were in short supply but these arrived in the second year plus maps of Europe and England. The school used a form of the monitor system with older children assisting the younger ones to learn. The school was visited regularly by Lady Lethbridge and a Miss Winter who was also involved in a children’s clothing club, to observe the children’s progress
“This School Has Made A Good Beginning”
In February 1877 a school inspector, Mr K. Boyle visited the school accompanied by two ladies from Sandhill Park and the Rev. Day. Eighteen children undertook examinations on the Friday. The following week the Rev. Day gave the children sweets and biscuits as treats for taking the examination the previous week. At the end of March, the Government report arrived and the grant for the next year. The report stated “This school has made a good beginning. The elder children do their work sharply and well, and most of the younger children are up to the mark.” This small village school despite all the initial difficulties appears to have had a considerable impact on the children’s education in its first year.
The school was officially transferred to the County Council in January 1915 and closed at the end of the summer term in 1916.