Bulford Church of England Primary School, Bulford

By his will, proved in 1758, Richard Duke gave money for a school to be built in the churchyard and also for land to provide an income. There was £8 a year to support a teacher and buy books. No land was bought then but the school was started. In 1818 there were 12 pupils and this had risen to 16 in 1833, when the tenant of the farm was paying £8 a year. This was later paid by the lords of Bulford manor, who added a further £12 to it. In the inspection of 1858 the school was said to have an endowment of £20 a year plus the school building. At this time between 15 and 20 children were taught by a mistress in a low room in a cottage near the churchyard. It was said that the room was occasionally used 'for culinary and other domestic purposes'. The floor was of brick, and the ceiling height 6 feet 6 inches to the cross beams. It was felt that the room was probably large enough for the parish. There was also a house and garden for the mistress.

A new free school was built in the High Street in 1874. There was accommodation for 60 children and a house and garden for the mistress. Mrs Mary Ann Knight was the mistress from 1875 to 1903 and saw the average attendance rise from 39 in 1889 to 48 in 1895, when children from Milston were attending. By 1897 attendance had increased to the low 50s and by 1898 it was in the high 50s and reached 60 some weeks. In 1899 and 1900 attendance was around 60 to 61. The Record Office only has the school log books from 1897and so we only have a brief picture of the school at the end of the Victorian era. The schoolroom was 30 feet by 16 feet by 14 feet high and in 1903 was able to accommodate 60 older children. The classroom was 18 feet by 16 feet by 14 feet high and in 1903 could accommodate 36 infants. At this time Bulford was an elementary school and tokk children up to the age of 11 years; this was raised to 12 years in 1899.

Apart from the mistress, Mrs Knight, there were two assistant mistresses, Miss Anne Rowden, a certified teacher, and Miss Francesca Knight, who was still taking examinations to fully qualify as a teacher. Lessons were the elementary subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic, with scripture, geography and drawing. The girls also had sewing and learned to make their own clothes. The mistress gave one off lessons on such subjects ar spring flowers, sugar, autumn flowers, ivory, the germination of grain, magnets, the mariner's compass, cocoa and chocolate, flax and the Arctic regions. The infants had object lessons where they learned about many aspects of one item, such as animals, ranging from cats to camels, coins, milk, coal, and water. There was much singing, with the children often learning a new song every two weeks, while there was also reciting and learning poetry. The vicar sometimes gave scripture lessons to the infants and the older children had special exams for drawing (excellent results in 1897/8) and scripture.

Annual holidays were, about 12 days at Christmas, 10 days at Easter, one week at Whitsun, and five weeks in the summer for Harvest Holiday. There were occasional full and half day holidays. On 22nd June 1897 one day off was given for the celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, while on 24th May 1900 a half day was given for the celebration of the Relief of Mafeking and the Queen's birthday. Children were also allowed time off for local activities such as tea meetings and the Sunday School tea. The school day was normally 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon and 2.00 p.m. to 4.0 p.m. In November 1898 afternoon school was altered to 1.40 p.m. to 3.40 p.m. during the winter months to allow children, who lived some distance away to get home before it was dark.

The H.M.I. reports show that there were some problems with the school. In 1898 the inspector wrote,
'I know of no school where it is harder to extract knowledge from the children and only hope it is from shyness on their part, although I fear their intelligence is not fully cultivated. Reading and grammar are backward, but in other respects the instruction is very fair. The children are orderly. The infants are getting on nicely.'
In 1899 he wrote,
'The condition of this school is not altogether satisfactory. The general influence of the teachers is good, but they fail to secure the attention of their scholars or to make them takes an active part in the oral lessons.'

He pointed out that the school needed a desk for the mistress (it was received in June), and more maps, pictures and objects. In 1900 it was reported that the school was doing a little better but that the younger teachers should help with the older children.

There was a certain amount of irregular attendance and some seasonal absences. In June and July the older children were in the fields helping with the haymaking, while in October they were helping their parents in the potato fields. The arrival of the army in the parish caused some disruption and on one day in July 1897 many children went with their parents to watch the arrival of soldiers on the downs. In June and July 1898 some children were absent on errands to the Camp and the same occurred in 1798. On 18th September 1898 there was a full day holiday so that the children could watch the army review.

Illnesses tended to be epidemic, which meant that large numbers of children might be off school for some weeks. There was influenza in the village in January 1898 and again in December 1899 and January 1900, when the Christmas holiday had to be extended by a week as both teachers and children were ill. Mumps and chicken pox were prevelant in November and December 1898 and the younger children were affected by whooping cough in June and July 1899. Bad weather was another reason for low attendances. On February 22nd 1898 heavy snowfall meant that there were only 7 children at school and there was deep snow again in February 1900. Heavy rainfall also prevented many children getting to school, often because they did not have overcoats or waterproof boots; in December 1899 severe weather affected attendance for several days. On May 23rd 1898 a long drawn out thunderstorm in the afternoon made normal work impossible and the children had singing and recitation instead of their planned lessons.

On 17th January 1898 the mistress adopted the school managers' scheme of giving prizes to the children for regular attendance. In October 1899 the mistress noted that the four pupils she had recently taken from Wilsford and Lake were very backward. Average attendance had increased to 65 by 1906, fell to 46 in 1907/8, and increased to 79 in 1911/12. After this numbers fell when a school opened in the Camp. In 1922 all children aged over 11 years went to Durrington School. In the 1920s the school had allotments, which were worked by the older children, and a sports field. The number on the school register increased from 52 in 1938 to 65 in 1955, and continued to rise in the 1960s as many more houses were built in the village. The expansion of the village in the 1960s meant that there were too many children for the old school and a new one was built in John French Way. The school opened in 1971. Numbers on the school register are little changed from 1990, when there were 211 pupils, 25% of whom came from army families, to 2004, when there were 217 pupils.