National School, Corsley

A collection was set up in 1846 and raised £678 16s 6d. This was used, along with a grant from the National Society for Providing Church Education, to establish the school in 1847. 150 children attended that year, having come from small private schools (such as Ranters' Shop belonging to the Primitive Methodists at Whitbourne Moor), and 'dame' schools throughout the parish. John Thynne's will of 1703 had provided £3,000 for charitable purposes, including education for parish children, given in the form of 'seasonal bestowal of provisions'. By 1859 it was stated that the school was 'excellent and picturesque' with the master and sewing mistress teaching the children in a single room. A vicar assisted at the school, and it was he who had trained the schoolmaster.

The school logbook was begun in 1870 and great emphasis was placed on the number of examinations the children were given. They were examined and arranged into first, second, third and fourth standard classes, and in 1871 'The children are in good order, and are being carefully grounded, the weak points today were the reading which is monotonous and the spelling and sums of the fourth standard'.

Classes were taught compound long division, weights and measures, sewing and scripture gallery lessons. Children were examined on the early part of the book of Genesis in 1870, religious education being very important in the 19th century. Some classes were taken to church during religious festivals. By the 1880s timetables were given to the teachers by the Government Inspectorate, telling the teachers what to teach their pupils. 1881 saw the appointment of an 11 year old to assist in the infants' class; she was paid one shilling and sixpence (7½ pence) a week, but standards fell. In 1882 the children had no grammar or geography lessons because their elementary subjects such as numeracy, were so poor. They were taught 'object' lessons such as common sights, clothing, animals, buildings and their uses.

By 1896 the examiners noted 'Scholars making decided improvements, much of it is now good quality', although the infants' progress was not so good; a new grant was given only on the understanding that better arrangements would be made for teaching them. The following year the teachers were told to begin object lessons and kindergarten exercises for the infants, but the desks for them were not acceptable and 'new desks with flat tops suitable for infants should be provided'.

Standards of teaching improved after the First World War. Children kept a vegetable garden, bee hives and chickens. There was also a pond and boys had to clip the yew hedge so that it did not poison any passing cows! In the 1930s fine summer weather meant lessons outside and nature walks on Friday afternoons. The children were also encouraged to collect chalk from Cley Hill and make models out of it, some were very good, including a six foot model of Old Corsley Church.

Two classroom assistants helped at the school in 1900 with attendance levels at around 120 (the lowest recorded figures being around half that in the 1880s). Poor attendance was usually due to the bad weather. In 1897 the school was closed and the children sent home due to their 'wet condition'. If they were lucky, children could dry their clothes on the cast iron stove, which was used for heating the cocoa milk. Teachers were concerned about children arriving late to school, but this was usually due to the weather conditions and the distance they had to travel to get to there. Children often used a hoop and stick on the long walk to pass the time. The school was closed early when it was dark and there was a snowstorm in December 1870. Illness was also another cause of absence, with outbreaks of measles occurring, although sometimes the children had to stay at home to look after their parents who were ill. School started late in February 1870, as it was occupied by a 'Dr Gribble' - the children were also sent out to fetch soup!

The schoolteacher also noted that attendance was poor on days when hounds met, and when there were Sunday school treats. In 1900 the school was closed one afternoon as attendance was very poor - it was a Bank Holiday and the Frome Flower Show. The school also tended to close in the afternoon after an examination. The elder girls and sewing mistress attended a funeral in 1897, and the late Marquess of Bath's funeral was another reason to close as a mark of respect. The schoolroom's use for parliamentary elections also provided a day off too!

The children appear to get fewer holidays per year: a week each for Christmas, Easter and Whitsun. August to September were 'Harvest Holidays', when the children would also be expected to help their parents in the fields. In fact they were absent from school quite often for this reason: March was woodpicking, May gardening, June haymaking, July keeping the birds from the wheat, September apple/potato picking and October acorn collecting.

Order and discipline was taken very seriously in the 19th century, and was always commented on by school examiners. Even the last entry of schoolmistress Amy Swain in 1882, when she resigned charge of the school, stated 'I have always found the children on the whole willing and obedient - and have no difficulty in getting excellent order and discipline'. This was not always the case, though. In June 1870 a younger child played truant and enquiries were sent to their parents. This seems to have been a common practice, in the same year enquiries were often sent to the parents of absentees, and the teacher even noted that he called on some himself. The year 1870 also recorded a child being expelled for disobedience. A note was sent to his parents and he was re-admitted on his 'begging pardon and promising obedience in the future'. Boys were also cautioned for climbing fences adjoining the school; one was kept back for 'careless writing', and in 1882 a boy was caned by the Reverend Swan for 'leaving school without permission'.

Lord Bath gave the site of the school to the Parish in 1861 and it was enlarged in 1875. Further information can be found under 'Church of England Primary School, Corsley'.