John Benett's Endowed School, West Tisbury

There was a school at Newtown, built in 1846, which was endowed by Thomas Benett and Miss Benett Stanford of Pythouse. John Benett gave ¾ of an acre of land for the school to be built on and it was intended to serve the poor of West Tisbury and its neighbours. It was built so that it could accommodate 65 children and in 1858 there were 40 boys and girls at the school. It was described as a ‘Good school-room, with stone floor and wall desks, and teacher’s house attached. A good supply of apparatus. The teaching and discipline are very fair [meaning they were good].’ An additional classroom was built in 1877 when the average attendance was 45.

The only log book we have covers the period 1899 – 1931. The dimensions of the two rooms are given in the front of this: the main room was 30 x 16 feet (480 sq. ft. and the class room was 18 x 16 feet (288 sq. ft.) In the early 20th century this area could have provided accommodation for 76.8 children according to the amount of space required for each child at this time. At the turn of the century there seems to have been only a head teacher and a monitress teaching at the school, although by 1914 there was another teacher here. A student teacher was also placed at the school in 1915.

Apart from the usual reading writing, arithmetic and religious knowledge, not too many subjects were taught in the early 20th century. Object lessons were still being used and geography was popular, especially with the boys. The older girls did needlework and dressmaking, with the resulting garments being sold, and coloured drawing and silent reading were both popular activities. There seems to have been nature study lessons, as in January 1902 the children searched the local fields, banks and woods for wild flowers; not surprising at that time of year there were few to be found, although they did bring in bunches of primroses, snowdrops, daisies, dandelions, and even a few violets. By 1916 some of the older girls were attending Tisbury domestic science classes.

The school was receiving excellent diocesan reports and fairly good HMI reports at this time. The average attendance was around 50 but as many families were leaving the area, with new ones moving in, this must have resulted in great disruption for the teacher. Attendance with some families was very irregular and the attendance officer seems to have been fairly busy. There were absences, mainly by the older boys, for a variety of work – haymaking, mangold hauling, the corn harvest and generally working on the farms as labour was scarce. Boys were also absent when the squire needed them as beaters for pheasant shooting and on one day the whole school was distracted by the novelty of scarifying engines in the adjacent field and road.

Extremes of weather affected attendance at the school with deep snow in early February 1900 preventing all but seven children from attending school; in early March 1916 the school was closed for a week because of deep snow. In May 1901 heavy rain meant that 40 children were absent on one day, while in the July of that year physical exercises had to be curtailed owing to very hot weather. In the early 20th century the summer holidays here were just four weeks, but there was two weeks at Christmas, about 10 days at Easter and 10 days at Whitsun.

In 1899 Mr and Mrs Genge (Chairman of the School Managers) gave an “excellent treat” in the schoolroom for the children, and Mr Hatcher provided a Christmas tree. A half day holiday was granted at the conclusion of the Boer War and the older boys helped Mr Benett build a celebratory bonfire in Pyt House Park. The celebrations lasted long into the night and there were many absences from school on the following day. Later in 1902, on 26th and 27th June, there was a two day holiday for the coronation of Edward VII. Holidays and half day holidays were given for such reasons as the Sunday School Treat at Tisbury, Hatch Chapel Treat, the Choral festival at Salisbury, and after the visit of H.M. Inspector. School finished at lunchtime when the school was used for Harvest Thanksgiving in the evening and on 29th May each year the children came to school decorated with sprigs of oak for Oak Apple day. Some years the squire presented prizes of 7/6d, 5/- and 1/- to the three best scholars in the school.

The school dentist and school medical officer made visits to the school and in July 1914 the county dentist was there from 10.00 in the morning until 4.00 in the afternoon, and the classroom was used as an operating room. Later the school nurse also made regular visits and the attendance officer was also a visitor when older boys were working on a farm instead of being at school.

There is little mention of the Great War in the log book although in June 1917 the school closed for the last two weeks of the month so that the children could help with the hay harvest, when so many men were away. The children were also given holidays to go blackberrying, for jam making, and for gathering acorns to help in ammunition manufacture. On 22nd November 1917 24 bushels of acorns were despatched to a munitions factory. In February 1918 parents objected to their daughters going to Tisbury for domestic science classes for a month, as the scarcity of cheese, butter or margarine made them unwilling to make sandwiches for the girls’ dinners. At this time most children would have gone home at mid day. Influenza had been present for some years and in 1918 it was so bad that the school was closed on 29th October and did not re-open until 18th November; there is therefore no mention of any Peace celebrations.

After the war the range of subjects taught increased and the school regularly received a library box of books. By 1923 the continuing closure of the school for two weeks for the Hay Holiday brought protests from many parents. Only two boys were eligible to work on a farm and the rest ran wild! Numbers of children attending the school fell during the 1920s and when the school re-opened after Easter 1931 there were only 20 children on the school register. Some parents preferred to send their sons to Tisbury, where there was a master in charge; at West Tisbury there was just one teacher with pupils ranging in age from five to thirteen years. A decision was taken to close the school and the mistress resigned on 31st October 1931. A temporary mistress took charge of the school and the remaining 16 children. The school closed on 22nd December 1931 and all forms, registers, summaries and the log book were sent to County Hall. The hymn books were sent to Odstock School.

After it was shut the school house was used as a village hall in the 1950s, and was converted into a private home after that. It is now Grade II listed.