St. George's C. of E. Primary School, Semington

In a bequest of 1699 Thomas Somner of Wellow , Somerset, left £2 per year which was the income from lands in Steeple Ashton, Littleton and Semington, to provide for the schooling of two poor boys from Semington. The number of boys benefitting from this bequest had risen to four by 1819 but had reduced again by 1833. At the time of his death Somner owned Passion's Mill, later to be named Littleton Mill.

By 1799 a Sunday School was in existence and funded by a number of the more wealthy inhabitants of Semington. Mr. David Marks was the schoolmaster but after his death, assumed to be in 1803, his widow took over the running of the school until 1811. Records of subscriptions are extant from 1799 to 1839 and attendance registers, showing a variety of reasons of absence, from 1803 to 1810.

According to the Education Enquiry Abstract of 1835 reporting to the House of Commons, by this date two schools existed in Semington, attended by 24 boys and 18 girls. Eight of the children were funded by the vicar and his curate in addition, it is assumed, to the two benefitting from the Somner bequest.

In 1859 a mixed school of 30 scholars was taught by a mistress who was uncertificated but had been trained at Whitelands College, founded in 1841 by the National Society as a teacher training college for women. The school was held in a 'cottage room' but plans were underway to build a school in the same year. The same report, by HM Inspector William Warburton to the House of Commons, giving this information, also stated that thirty other children were taught in two dames' schools.

The land on which the new school was to be built was granted by the Semington Chapel Lands charity, which stipulated that it was to follow the precepts of the National Society 'in union with and conducted upon the principles and in furtherance of the Established Church'. Funding for its operation came from Government grants, voluntary contributions and Somner's Charity and it was subject to inspection by HM Inspector.

At the census of 1861 there were 56 pupils recorded at the school. School Log Books held by Wiltshire and Swindon Archives cover the period 1875 to 1976. Until May 1913 pupils included those from Melksham Union workhouse which was located in Semington.

From the school's earliest days the importance of recording numbers of pupils on roll, attendance figures and reasons for absence is apparent from the school log books and there were regular visits by the Attendance Officer to check such records. Reasons for absence were primarily sickness and at a number of points during the century covered by the log books the school was ordered by the Medical Officer to be closed due to outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, influenza or German Measles. Vigilance for the children's health is also reflected through entries recording visits by the school doctor, nurse or dentist. In addition, there were regular 'Weighing and Measuring Days'. Absences might be for other, primarily agricultural reasons, however, as shown in the Headteacher's entry for July 1st 1876:
'The attendance has been very small and fluctuating this week on account of a great number of children, being haymaking'.

Until the reforms introduced by the Education Act of 1944, children left the school at the age of 14 after 1918. Prior to that the school leaving age had been raised to 11 in 1893 and to 12, with an agricultural exemption at 11 years, in 1899. There are numerous references to children sitting the Labour Certificate examination which was designed to provide evidence that a pupil had achieved a required standard in reading, mathematics and general education. In addition, in 1917 and 1921 the log books record boys having left the school having been granted an 'Agricultural Exemption'.

The school comprised two rooms, each containing an iron stove for heating, and a cloakroom. Toilet facilities were very basic: the toilets comprised wooden seats over large buckets which were emptied weekly by the caretaker. Indeed, in the report on the school by HM Inspector in July 1956 it is noted that the WCs are still of the 'pail type'. A minimal improvement took place in 1962 when Elsan toilets were installed during the Whitsun holiday.

There were persistent problems of overcrowding and these were noted in HM Inspection reports as numbers on the school roll ranged between 61 and 79 from 1911 to 1921. In April 1920 it was noted that the number of children being taught in the 'Big' Room was 50, whilst only 39 should have been accommodated there; consequently Standard II was to be taught in the cloakroom. By September 1924, however, only 48 children were on roll and in 1926 the Inspector wrote,
'Since 1921 when over 70 names were on the registers the number of children in attendance at this School has steadily declined and on 31st March 1926 the Staff was reduced by the withdrawal of a Supplementary Teacher and the children were formed into two classes. There are 47 children in attendance....'. By April 1927 only 42 children were on roll. Numbers were boosted, however, by the arrival in June 1940 of 20 children evacuated from the Edmund Halley School in the present borough of Tower Hamlets, London, for whom desks were received from London County Council.

From 1909 to 1975 the school had only three Headteachers: Millicent Dowse from May 3 1909 to March 27 1929; Violet M. Porrett from April 8 1929 to August 14 1942 and Miss E.G. Rogers from September 1942 until she left the school as Mrs. E. Grace Burbidge on 22 July 1975.

During their time in the school the pupils progressed through standards ranging from Infants and Standards 1-6. The subjects studied by the pupils, in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, differed between the various standards but included poetry, history, geography, English grammar and composition, and nature studies. In addition the children were regularly examined in Religious Knowledge and their success or otherwise was noted in the log books by the Diocesan Inspector in Religious Knowledge.

There were days of special activities, however, in addition to the days of work: From the early years of the 20th century, on 'Empire Day', May 24th, the children sang patriotic songs, marched in procession, saluted the Union flag, listened to sermons describing their privileges and obligations as members of the British Empire and finally gave three cheers each for King and Empire. Half and whole-day holidays were given, by wish of the King, on occasions of royal weddings as in 1922 for that of Princess Mary and 1923 for that of the Duke of York

During the First World War the children participated in national efforts of fundraising such as French Flag Day on July 14, 1915 when the children collected 5s. 10d. to send to the French Relief Fund. Similarly, the sum of £1. 3s. 4d. was sent to the Memorial Fund commemorating Jack Cornwall, a 16 year-old boy sailor who was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1916.

In October 1917 and September 1918 the children were given a half-day holiday to go blackberrying in order to contribute to the national scheme for collecting the fruit. On the second of these occasions a total of 244 lbs. of blackberries was sent to Melksham Station for despatch and £1 11s. 2d. was distributed to the children in payment.

When 5,000 soldiers marched through Semington on their way to Trowbridge in May 1916 the children were taken by their teachers to Church Field to watch them pass by. The following year, on November 9, 1917 King George V and Queen Mary passed
through Semington on their way from Trowbridge to Melksham during their West of England tour. Their procession was composed of eighteen cars and the children of the school lined up in the centre of the village and waved flags and cheered as it passed by.

On November 11, 1918 when news of the signing of the Armistice was received, the children marched through the village playing musical instruments and carrying flags; a half-day holiday ensued in the afternoon.

Over two days in July 1924 the Headteacher and older children went to visit the newly opened Wembley Stadium and to see the sights of London. Holidays were also given in the 1920s to enable children to attend the County School Sports at Trowbridge. Annual school outings were to coastal resorts such as Bournemouth and Lyme Regis and, for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the school closed for three days. Pupils were subsequently taken to the Regal Cinema in Trowbridge to see the film 'The Conquest of Everest' which recorded the achievement by Sir Edmund Hillary and his companion Sherpa Tensing, the announcement of which had coincided with Coronation Day.

In 1949 the school was granted the status of Church of England Controlled School. However, conditions in the school remained as they had from earlier in the century. HM Inspector's report of July 1956 noted that there were 44 children on roll, accommodated in two classrooms. No field was available for games and there was no garden, but 'as a result of the goodwill between school and village community' the children cultivated flowerbeds in the churchyard and were 'welcomed into the gardens of private houses to observe various gardening skills'. Pressure on the overcrowding was relieved when in January 1962 a part-time teacher began teaching the Lower Juniors and Upper Infants in the Methodist Chapel Schoolroom each morning. In November 1963, however, a site was proposed for a new school and in September 1968 the new term opened in the Pound Lane premises. The old school building became a private dwelling.

St. George's School continues its active existence in Semington and, as at October 2008, had 73 pupils on roll.