Board School, Tinhead, Edington

Edington is one of the few villages in Wiltshire that didn't have it's own school in the first half of the 19th century. It was not until after Forster's Education Act of 1870 opened the way for school boards to be set up that the village had its own 'official' school.

In 1859, between 40 and 50 girls were taught to read and sew, but not write, in a cottage room. The Edington boys and both sexes from Tinhead attended the school at Bratton. The Edington school, in a cottage, is described in Warburton's Census of Schools of 1859 as a 'nice school room with a flagged floor and loose desks' and the children were taught by an untrained mistress. Discipline and instruction were moderate and the school was well supplied with books and apparatus.

Edington and East Coulston were made a united district and a school board was formed in 1875, the school was built in 1877 at Tinhead, at a cost of £1,000 and was capable of housing up to 120 pupils.

An Indenture dated 30th June 1876 shows a plan of the proposed school, which was instigated by the School Board of Edington and East Coulston under Simon Watson Taylor of Erlestoke Park, who oversaw the construction of the school. It included a platform for the desk and stool of the schoolmistress, a twenty four hour clock, three book shelves fixed to the wall, two fire grates, fire irons and coal scuttle, two desks attached to the wall fifteen feet, long with stools. Various desks and stools, a world map, an easel and blackboard, a door mat, hand bell and a framed movable partition. The Architect was William Smith of Church Walk in Trowbridge, and a mortgage was raised from a bank in the city of London, under a public works loan. The first entry for this dates from 23rd September 1876, and mentions the sum of £948 to be repaid over fifty years, final payment to be made on 23rd September 1926.

The school taught boys and girls of all ages and had a separate infants' department. In 1875 the Mistress was Miss Matilda Carr while the Infants' Mistress was Miss Fanny Drewith. From around 1880 the school seems to have had a schoolmaster in charge; the average attendance in 1885 was 106. By 1894 the school could accommodate 124 pupils and the average attendance was 119 pupils.

Unfortunately there are no Victorian school log books held at the  Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, but the following general information would be relevant to the school for the latter part of the 19th century. Fees were paid for each child until 1891, normally at the rate of one penny (0.4p) or twopence a week and the 'school pence' were collected by the schoolteacher. 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 was only 2 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.