Winterbourne Bassett School

Although there was a small day school in the parish in 1818, the ‘Education of the Poor Digest’ stated that the poor wished for a better standard of education for their children. By 1835 a cottage on the south side of the village street was converted for use as a school attached to the Church of England. A report dated 1858 showed that there were 20 children taught by a dame in the same cottage. The vicar had adapted the cottage for the purposes of a school-room. The school was mainly supported by the younger children; the older pupils went to the neighbouring school at Broad Hinton which had opened in 1846. A new school was built north of the village street in 1875 to accommodate 50 children.

Unfortunately no material has survived regarding the history of Winterbourne Bassett school; no annual reports, no plans, and most importantly, no logbooks. The logbooks are a daily record of events in the school and will usually paint a vivid picture of life within that community. We do, however, know in general terms what school life would have entailed. By 1880 children were educated up to the age of ten, although they could stay longer. The learning age was raised to eleven in 1893, when children normally started as infants, aged four or five. School fees, one penny or twopence a week, had been removed in 1891. The school day was likely to have been from 9.00 to 12.00 noon and from 2.00pm to 4.00pm. Children either brought their lunch and ate it in the schoolroom or went home to eat. The teacher was assisted by paid monitors in their mid teens or by a pupil teacher, who was training to become a certified teacher.

Lessons were the elementary ones of reading, writing and arithmetic with scripture; some lessons in the latter subject were often taken by the vicar. The girls learned sewing and all had singing and recitation. Some geography and history would have been taught. School holidays were about a week or 10 days at Christmas and Easter, a week at Whitsun and five weeks Harvest Holiday in the summer. Full day and half day holidays were given for various reasons such as church or chapel teas or Sunday school outings, Royal and national occasions and the afternoon after the H.M.I. examinations. Unauthorised absences included seasonal work on the farm and in the garden for the older children and visits to local fairs, military events and other local happenings.

Many logbooks are dominated by descriptions of the weather, and by illnesses. Attendance figures were extremely important, as these affected exam results, which in turn could affect the school grant and the teacher’s salary. All schools were affected by the usual winter coughs and colds, but there were also more serious outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough. These were usually dealt with by closing the school to prevent further spread of infection. The weather was also sometimes a problem. Most children did not have any protective clothing and would often stay at home if it was raining. As most of them went home to lunch, this could mean a full attendance figure in the morning and very few returning in the afternoon if there was a storm. It must have been very frustrating to the teachers who were trying to plan lessons. Children who lived a long way from the school might not attend at all during the winter if they had a long, cold walk ahead of them each day.

We do have a record of the head teachers at the school, as this information was kept in ledgers that covered the whole county. The teachers were all female; unfortunately few of them stayed for very long and the pupils must have suffered from this lack of continuity. The first recorded head teacher was Mrs Caroline Scott, who appeared on the 1881 and 1891 censuses. In later years Mrs Horsman stayed for six years from 1915-1921, as did Miss Chapman from 1925-31. The two longest serving heads each stayed for 12 years, Mrs Hill from 1932-44 and Mrs Gilbert from 1949-1961. By 1965 pupil numbers had dropped to 22 and the following year the school closed. The children now go to Broad Hinton Primary School.