National School, Whiteparish

Land for a new school was given by Frances Elizabeth Nelson and money raised by subscription plus a £100 government grant for the building. The school was registered on 13th May 1842 and children from Lynch's School and the Girls' Free School transferred there. The original school was the present school hall and one classroom. It was apparently built to accommodate 160 boys but both boys and girls were taught there separately from the beginning. Staffing was non-certificated headteacher and mistress who, in 1846 were paid £43 and £27 a year respectively from the endowment and the payment of fees. In that year 65 boys and 59 girls attended the school.

By 1858 there were 30 free and 40 fee paying boys being taught in a good room, but in what were said to be poor conditions, at parallel desks by 'an elderly man of doubtful capabilities'. There were 30 free girls plus some fee paying ones taught in a good room by 'an elderly woman of humble acquirements' in what were described as moderate conditions. It was stated that a new master and mistress would be appointed at Midsummer that year. In 1860 the school adopted the priciples of the National Society.

On becoming a National School the school remained as two separate departments – boys, and girls and infants. The school logbooks for both exist from 1862 but the mistress of the girls’ and infants’ school provided far more information than the headmaster of the boys’ school. The school day was from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 1.30 p.m. – 4.00 p.m. During the winter the school was often let out 15 or 30 minutes early so that children could walk home before it was dark. In general the reports on both schools from the 1860s was satisfactory or good. ‘Discipline of the school is good …..girls passed very fairly in reading and writing, tolerably in arithmetic. Religious Knowledge is satisfactory’ (1864). ‘Girls are carefully taught and have improved in intelligence since last year’ (1866). In 1873 the children passed their exams well but in 1880 the reading of the infants had to improve. Other reports from the 1880s and early 1890s are fairly good.

At this time children were taught at the school until they were 11 or 12 years old. Infants started at four years and in 1874 one boy aged three years, ten months was admitted. Schooling cost 1d (about 0.4p) a week per pupil but in some cases this was paid by the vicar or the Poor Law Guardians. Like other schools in the area Whiteparish was affected by long term absences of some pupils, in 1873 one boy returned having spent two years four months working and in 1871 a girl returned after two years away from school.

The basic lessons were reading, writing and arithmetic with scripture often taught by the vicar; other lessons from the 1860s included dictation, singing, spelling, exercises in the playground and, for the girls, needlework. During their needlework lessons, taking the whole afternoon, the girls often sang the hymns that they were learning. They also learned the catechism and frequently attended church services at 11.30 a.m., especially on Saints’ Days, but were let off scripture lessons on those days. From 1874 the girls joined the boys in their school for music and singing lessons. Geography and history were on the curriculum in the 1870s and the girls learned the techniques of cutting out material. From the 1860s home lessons, often learning pieces to recite in class, were given.

Both slates and copybooks were used in school and by 1864 the children were solving their sums on paper. Materials for needlework were often sent in by the vicars’ wife or school manageress and the results were often exhibited at the local flower show. In 1875 linen was sent to the school to be made into shirts. Object lessons, when the children studied all aspects of one subject were taught from the 1880s and in 1895 they included, a camel, a sheep, an ostrich, a ploughman, a tailor, a grocers’ shop, a potato plant, a lifeboat, a storm and a doll’s house as subjects. Morning school began with singing, prayers and marking the attendance register. At the start of afternoon school the register was marked again, many of the children went home for dinner, although those who lived further away brought theirs, and school closed with more prayers.

The staffing of the school included the headmaster teaching the boys with assistance of a pupil teacher and monitors, a mistress teaching the girls, with the assistance of a pupil teacher and monitors, while the infants were first taught by a pupil teacher and later a mistress. In 1864 the schoolmistress was removed from the girls’ school and the pupil teacher left in charge for a month until another mistress arrived. The new mistress, aged 21, was from Sarum Training College and remained at the school for 21 years. In general most of the senior staff remained at the school for long periods thus avoiding the disruption suffered by some schools where there were frequent changes.

Annual Holidays were ten days at Christmas (two weeks by 1892), half a day for Good Friday after attending church in the morning (increased to a full day in 1881). One week at Whitsun in late May, and four weeks Harvest Holiday in August. There were often poor attendances in the first week the school re-opened after a major holiday. There were a fair number of half and whole day holidays for special events. These included Flower Shows at Melchet Court, Clothing Club Day, the school treat, church and chapel Sunday School treats, the Shoe Club meeting in the school, the Temperance Society Fete and a half day following a morning H.M.I. inspection. In 1897 there was a week’s holiday for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and Lord and Lady Nelson came to the school and presented each child with a Jubilee mug and medal.

There were also many unauthorised absences. Seasonal ones included haymaking in July, harvesting when there was an early or late harvest, gleaning in August/September when the older girls collected fallen ears of corn for the family’s bread, and potato digging and acorn gathering in October. At other times children were required to help at home and reasons included, taking care of the baby, looking after sick parents, running errands for mother and minding the cow. Older boys were often absent for long periods working for their fathers or local farmers. Sometimes children missed school to attend such local events as sports on Whiteparish Down, Salisbury Fair, a Tea Meeting on Dean Hill, the village flower show and, for the boys, a meet of deer hounds. From 1886 August Bank Holiday seems to have been taken as a general holiday in the village.

Illness also kept children at home, sometimes for long periods. More serious ones were scarlet fever for which the school was closed for a month in 1876, an entire week after Christmas in 1880 and for another week in 1886, whooping cough and measles. The school was also closed for three weeks in January 1889 for scarletina while mumps and influenza were prevalent in January 1898. Other complaints were colds, coughs, chilblains and ringworm. Extremes of weather also affected attendance. Wet and stormy weather reduced numbers, particularly at morning school, and very often many infants failed to get to school for the day. Heavy snowstorms made reaching school difficult, particularly in 1864, 1873 and 1874 and in February 1898 the school was closed for two days because of deep snow.

With lateness, truancy and misbehaviour in class among the older children, punishments were fairly frequent. Most common was being kept in after school for being late, not doing schoolwork properly and other minor wrongdoings. Girls were often scolded but both girls and boys were beaten for more serious offences such a breaking slates, improper behaviour or language. One girl was excluded for ‘little acts of cruelty towards others’. Bad behaviour did not only come from the children. The schoolrooms were sometimes used for public meetings and were occasionally left in a very bad state, including mud on the desks as though people had been walking over them.

In 1890 another classroom measuring 33 feet long by 18 feet wide by 12 feet 6 inches high, was built for the boy’s school. Their old room, measuring 36 feet 6 inches long by 17 feet 5 inches wide by 15 feet high, was taken over by the girls while the infants were now taught in the old girls’ classroom. The old head retired in 1895 and was replaced by Mr. Faulkner, who was paid £100 a year plus a house. He was to stay here for 35 years and became very influential in both school and village. He continued the evening school, which had been going from at least 1862, for boys aged over 12 years. The school took place from 7.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 16 weeks in the winter and was taught by the headmaster and other instructors, including the local doctor. Unfortunately the doctor was sometimes called away to a case and the headmaster had to take his place. Subjects taught in 1897-8 were ‘Ambulance’ (leading to an exam of the St. John’s Ambulance Association), commercial arithmetic, commercial geography, ‘manual instruction’ and carpentry. Thirty-nine boys attended these lectures. The subjects in 1898-9 were mensuration (mathematical exploitation), elementary physiography (which seemed to be mainly astronomy), drawing and hygiene, which included first aid. In 1899-1900 there was algebra, ‘the science of common things (human physiology, sound, light, heat, magnetism, electricity etc.), drawing and home nursing.

Whiteparish had become a mixed school in 1897 with boys and girls taught together in their standards, but still with a separate infants’ class. In 1898 there were 101 in the mixed school and 36 infants on the register. The staff was a headmaster, an assistant mistress for the girls and an assistant mistress for the infants. In this year 18 new desks, costing £23 and seating six children, were bought for the school. Lord Nelson gave a schoolhouse and gardens, now sold, to the school in 1904. These gardens, tended by the older children, were very productive and well known, producing much fruit and vegetables, and later supplied Downton School. The school was taken over by Wiltshire County Council and further information will be found under All Saints C. of E. Primary School, Whiteparish.