West Kington Church of England School

Richard Bennett made a bequest for a schoolmaster at West Kington and in 1841 a school was provided for 72 children. In 1846 there were 24 children in the Sunday and Day School and they were supported by the rector. A mistress taught the 50 children who attended the Day School in 1858 and a few also went to Castle Combe School. There were 30 pupils in 1907 and in 1955 this voluntary controlled school had 16 pupils. By 1920 it was an elementary mixed school with an average of 30 pupils; Miss Mary Familoe was the mistress in 1920 and had been at the school since at least 1889.

Unfortunately there are no Victorian school log books in Wiltshire & Swindon Archives for West Kington School, the one that does exist dates from 1929 to 1967, 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 were 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.

By 1929 and with reference to the existing school log book, the headmistress was Mrs. Eleanor Eales and she was assisted by a supplementary teacher, Miss Edith Farmer. There were then 30 children on the school roll. They had an annual summer outing in July to Weston-Super-Mare and received a good Diocesan report stating that they were working ‘happily together.’ In September 1929 they had a joint outing with Nettleton and Burton School to Stonehenge and Salisbury where they visited the Cathedral and the City Museum and in 1933 they went to Bournemouth for the first time. A good report was received in 1930 from HMI recognising steady progress and suggesting more attention should be paid to spelling. The children underwent regular medical examinations both by the nurse and the doctor and they were generally in good health. They gave an annual recitation of songs and poems to their parents and sold items of their handiwork; the money was saved in a fund for a school library. A new headmistress, Mrs. Mary Harvis, was appointed in September 1931, and the attendance continued to be 100% or very near. By 1932 this figure dropped to just over 76% but can be explained by an epidemic of influenza which recurred in 1933.

A nature study walk along Broadmead Brook was taken in February 1933 covering two miles and in May 1934 the children went outside to watch a bee-keeper collecting a swarm of bees. An inter school football match against North Wraxall School resulted in a 1-1 draw in April 1934. In July 1934 West Kington won a cricket match, also against North Wraxall, only to be beaten by them the following week and this illustrates participation in outdoor sports, as well as regular attendances at local sports days.

Examinations took place for the secondary school in Chippenham and some pupils were successful and could further their education in the nearby town.

In September 1934 the school re-opened after the holidays, newly decorated in green and primrose colours. Then on 29th November 1934 they had an extra holiday to celebrate the royal wedding of Princess Marina of Greece to Prince George, Duke of Kent.

The HMI report of 1935 praises the friendliness of the children, lacking shyness and showing a lively interest in their work. ‘They bring newspaper cuttings of contemporary events which form the basis of discussions. Gardening has recently been developed.’ The report also comments that the ‘playground is too small for physical training so it is taken in the road outside the school.’

In May 1935 another holiday is given to celebrate the King’s Jubilee, but the following year there is a further closure to mourn his death, closely followed by a 3 day break for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

By summer 1935 the attendance was 100% for six weeks running, a well deserved record. Occasionally the excellent attendance was marred by epidemics, such as that of mumps in 1937 and measles in 1938. Accidents sometimes occurred, and included falls in the playground as well as one child having her foot run over by a tractor in the lane outside. Improvements were regularly carried out to the school and included, in 1938, a new gate, a concrete base for the stove, and repairing of the coal house roof as well as the whitewashing of the outside toilets.

A pantomime outing to Bath, to see ‘Jack and Jill’ was the Christmas treat, and Christmas parties were also held most years. An outing to view the Roman excavations nearby happened in 1938 as well as a trip to see Cheddar Caves and to the cinema in Chippenham to watch the film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.’

By June 1939 there were only 21 children on the register, but they still held a handicraft show with many examples of sewing and knitting, as well as basketry, seagrass seated stools and collections of pressed flowers. In 1939 the return to school after the summer break was delayed due to the outbreak of World War II, and 40 evacuees arrived from London to join the school. A double shift system came into operation to accommodate them all, you either went to school from 8am till noon, or noon till 4 pm. The teachers’ house was put into use for an extra classroom for girls and there was special attention paid to the health of the children as many of the evacuees had impetigo. Their numbers diminished by November 1939 as some returned to London and only about 14 remained. In 1941 there was a closure of the school owing to an unexploded bomb bringing the war very close to home. Luckily nobody was hurt. In 1944 Mrs. Harris, the head teacher left and she was presented with a cheque for £12. 3shillings as well as a fruit bowl and a cruet. She was replaced with Mrs. E. Boyd. VE Day was celebrated on 8th May 1945.

The school closed in 1967 as there were only 8 pupils on the roll and they were transferred to the nearby Nettleton and Burton School. The last entry in the school log book was from Mrs. Bulkowski