National School, Berwick Bassett

A National school and teacher’s house were built in 1847. In 1858 HM Inspector William Warburton reported that there were 30 to 40 boys and girls in the school, taught by a schoolmistress. The income from Henry Webb’s charity was still received by the school and, in addition, a building grant of £66 had been received from the Government.

Warburton commented that “The instruction and discipline are very moderate. The floor is a boarded one, and the desks stand against the wall”.

Unfortunately no logbooks survive from the school although according to returns to central Government it had 15 pupils in 1871 but temporarily closed in 1897 due to an insufficient number of pupils. At its reopening in 1907, average daily attendance at the school was 22 and remained approximately at this level until it closed finally in 1922.

Despite the lack of log books recording the daily life of the school, it may be assumed that as a small school in a rural, agricultural area, the experiences of the pupils were similar to those in other schools where relevant evidence has survived:

In second half of the 19th century fees were paid for each child, normally at the rate of one penny (0.4p) or twopence a week and the ‘school pence’ were collected by the schoolteacher. Payment of fees ceased in 1891. There would have been a schoolmaster, or schoolmistress, with assistant teachers, pupil teachers and monitors. The pupil teachers were taught by the head before lessons started, took exams, sometimes went to the Diocesan Training College and eventually became teachers themselves. They mainly taught the younger children. Monitors were also paid but tended to be younger and helped to look after the younger children or teach the infants.

School holidays were at similar times to those of today but often there were only two days at Easter but a week at Whitsun. The summer holidays were of five or six weeks and were called the Harvest Holidays as the children either helped with the harvest or carried food and drink to their parents, who were working in the fields. There were more half-day and whole day holidays for special events. Half a day would be given after the annual H.M.I. or Diocesan inspections and there were holidays for school treats, choir outings, chapel teas, Christmas parties and at times when the school was needed for other purposes.

There were also many unauthorised absences. These would be for seasonal work, such as haymaking (June) and early or late harvest (July or September), being kept at home to help their parents, and working when they should have been at school. Bad weather such as heavy rain, cold weather, or snow kept children away from school, often because their parents couldn’t afford to buy them suitable clothes. Apart from the usual colds and coughs there were more serious illnesses than today and these included, mumps, measles, whooping cough, scarletina and diphtheria.

The elementary subjects were the ‘3 Rs’ – reading writing and arithmetic. Scripture was often taught by the vicar and children would have attended church for services on some days. Older children were taught history and geography and there may have been some study of natural history. Singing was taught to all ages and all the girls and some of the boys would have done needlework. Drawing had been introduced by the 1890s.
After closure of Berwick Bassett school in 1922, the children of the parish attended Winterbourne Bassett school, which itself closed in 1966, and possibly Winterbourne Monkton school, which closed in 1970.