East Kennett C. of E. Elementary School

Many village schools in Wiltshire had been established by the Church of England’s National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church founded in 1811.  Anna and Maria Mathew’s school, however, was a completely independent foundation, although their family’s rebuilding of East Kennett church in 1864 indicates that they were happy to support the principles of the Church of England. After Maria Mathew’s death in 1882 the school became a Church of England Public Elementary School and the vicar, the Revd. Wilson became Correspondent to the Managers in 1884.   

In 1903 the Wiltshire County Council Education Department became the authority for the school, although still as a controlled school by the Church of England through the Salisbury Diocese.  The 1902 Education Act empowered parents to withdraw their children from religious education, a facility of which non-conformist parents took advantage.   That a substantial number of pupils belonged to non-conformist families may be assumed from the fact that on the day of opening in 1901 of the Methodist chapel in Overton, the school attendance was very poor.

 While pupils were receiving Church of England instruction, the problem of where the withdrawn children could be accommodated in the meantime was overcome by the schoolmistress offering them a room in her adjoining house, to be taught by a Monitress for the duration of their separation from their fellow pupils.

The earliest surviving log books for the school date from 1891, the year that the school applied for the Fee Grant from the Government; this was an annual per capita payment of 10 shillings per pupil.  However, an admissions register had been started in 1880 in accordance with the 1880 Education Act, which made education compulsory for children between the ages of five and ten.  The earlier introduction of the Revised Code in 1862 had already introduced the concept of “payment by results” whereby attendance levels over the course of the school year, together with the achievements of pupils in tests of their academic work determined the grant received from the Government the following year. 

While the absence of log books results in the daily activities during the early years of East Kennett school being hidden from us, it may be assumed that school life followed much the same pattern as in other rural schools in Wiltshire.

In accordance with the Revised Code of 1862, children up to approximately the age of 6 would be in the Infants’ class.

 From the ages of 7 to 12 the pupils (mixed boys and girls) would be placed in sets known as Standards I to VI. The core subjects were Reading, Writing (including Dictation) and Arithmetic – the three “Rs”, with precise features of each subject at each Standard carefully stipulated in the Code.  There were also “object” lessons, based on a wide diversity of topics; in 1899 these included:  clock, bell, tiger, book, sugar, window, elephant, pear and numerous others.  Examinations of the pupils by HM Inspector at his annual visit, together with attendance percentages, would determine the grant to be received by the school for the following year.  The first log book records HM Inspector’s report on his visit of 2 June 1891:  He describes discipline as being very fair, reading as having gained in fluency; writing was “still poorly finished but the number of mistakes in spelling” had decreased. 

As a Church of England school, the children would also be subjected to periodic examinations of their religious knowledge by a Diocesan inspector. 

Scripture was always the first lesson of the day, but while the three Rs. remained the focus of the children’s education, the curriculum widened as the century progressed and in addition there were history, learning poems by heart, some geography, and elementary science.

 Needlework, drawing, singing music and  PE were also introduced, as was craft work – knitting as well as needlework for the girls, scale drawing for the boys, and basket work for the infants.  Until the older children, aged 11 to 14, were transferred to Overton cum Fyfield School in 1924, the younger children remaining at East Kennett, it is evident from the log books that either a supplementary teacher or Monitress taught the youngest pupils.  Prior to the move, in 1919 there were 38 pupils; by 1925 there were 22.

Punishments were meted out by the schoolteacher, sometimes by admonishments but sometimes by means of one or two cane stripes to the hand; these would be for offences such as truancy, stone throwing, impudence and disobedience.

The main summer holiday, usually of around six weeks, was focused on the harvest, and consequently the dates would vary from year to year according to the readiness of the crops.  There would also be shorter holidays of one week at Easter and Whitsuntide, and of two weeks at Christmas. However, a regular problem of attendance in a rural area would be the need for older children to help their families in their agricultural work from time to time – planting or picking produce and haymaking.  The School Attendance Officer would pursue repeated cases of non-attendance but concern for its effects on the following year’s grant would be a constant one for the schoolmistress.

 In order to be able to leave school permanently a child aged 13 would have to pass an examination for a Labour certificate demonstrating that Standard IV had been achieved. 

Extreme weather conditions such as heavy snow or rain and flooding affected attendance.  Children would often walk considerable distances, from Overton, Fyfield or West Kennett, in order to reach school, returning home at lunchtime and walking back to school in the afternoon.  After attendance registers were introduced and entries made for both morning and afternoon sessions, a late arrival would mean than the child’s attendance was not registered and an absence would be recorded. 

Similarly, attendance would be influenced by any epidemic of illness in the area and East Kennett school log books show that as in many other Wiltshire schools, epidemics of influenza, measles, whooping cough, or even scarlet fever together with other conditions were factors in attendance rates which were meticulously recorded by the teacher.  By the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Schools Medical Officer of the county would direct that a school should be closed for a certain period; in East Kennett the school was closed for six weeks in 1912 due to an epidemic of whooping cough and for nearly five weeks in 1918 because of bouts of the same illness and influenza.

 Conditions which were not of epidemic proportions but still of concern, such as mumps and impetigo, might lead to the exclusion of individual pupils until the condition cleared.

By the early 20th century there were also regular visits by the school nurse, dentist and doctor to monitor the children’s health and welfare; in the case of the nurse, examination of children’s heads for nits and lice was a particular feature of her visits.  A weighing machine was circulated on a rota basis around the county’s schools. 

However, attendances were also influenced by happier events; some of these were officially sanctioned, such as holidays on the occasion of Royal events.  A half-day holiday was given for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902 and commemorative medals were given to the pupils.  Attendance at local fairs and circuses would also result in unofficial absences. 

At the opening of the First World War in August 1914 there were 33 pupils on roll.  By the beginning of October the early impact of the War was being felt in this small school:  A log book entry for the 3rd of the month states that “Boys being anxious to help have started most of them knitting body belts and scarves for our soldiers” and on 29th January 1915 a new war song called “Forward” was being taught to the children.

 Nevertheless, later that year the summer treat to Swindon was being enjoyed by the children on 13th August. 

There is evidence that a drain on local numbers of agricultural workers was being felt by July 1916, when an extra week’s holiday was given to “get in the hay” following a two-week haymaking holiday.  Farmers would make subsequent requests for boys’ help throughout the war.

Other, more direct, contributions to the war effort were made by blackberry picking in October 1917 and as late as September 1918.  The blackberries would be made into jam to be supplied to the army and navy.  In addition, in the later months of the war, the children were collecting horse chestnuts to be sent to London; however, plans to produce acetone from the chestnuts in the course of munitions production were not entirely successful and the project ceased after three months.  Nevertheless, many schoolchildren in Wiltshire and other counties – not only at East Kennett – enjoyed searching for “conkers” in the woods as a break from their normal school routine.

Two London children joined the school in October 1917 as a result of the dangers posed by the air raids which had begun in the capital.  They stayed at the school until February 1918.

The normal and recurrent illnesses suffered by the children – and teachers – continued both in war and peace time.

 However, shortly before the Armistice a log book entry on 8th November 1918 gives an ominous reference to the influenza epidemic which would affect such a great part of the population in the months after the war:   “Influenza spreading, only 27 in school Friday afternoon out of 41”.  A week later the Head Teacher herself was away with the illness.  Snow and floods at this time, preventing some children from getting to school made life even more difficult. 

The following year, in May 1919, scarlet fever struck two families and the whole school was sprayed with strong disinfectant.   When another family succumbed some days later the school was closed for a fortnight, until 13th June.  However, yet another case brought closure for a further fortnight; this would be considered the ordinary “haymaking holiday”. 

By May 1923 Empire Day was being celebrated in the school; this does not appear to have been a regular, annual event at this time but an entry for 24th May 1927, “Children performed short Empire play around flag, concluding by saluting flag and singing National Anthem” indicates that the flag staff erected the previous August was being put to use.  Similarly, later that year, on 11th November 1926 the children assembled round the flagstaff with their teachers and the School Managers; there was a short address by the vicar and the National Anthem was sung.

 Again on Empire Day, 24 May 1927, the children performed a short Empire play around the flag and concluding by saluting the flag and singing the National Anthem.

On 1st September 1924, East Kennett School had reopened as a junior school, the older children, aged 11 to 14, being transferred to Overton or Avebury schools.  Immediately after the transfer there were 29 children on the roll.  Conditions for this lesser number of children were still inadequate, however, and plans were being discussed by the Trustees to supply the school and cloakroom with stoves and to supply “dinner children” with a hot midday meal.  Certainly, in November and December 1925 temperatures were extremely low in the buildings and the children’s cold hands were adversely affecting their handwriting.  As late as 5th November 1945 the Head Teacher would still be writing about the extremely poor toilet and sanitary facilities at the school.

Numbers of children on the school roll continued to fall until the Second World War; in 1938 there were 13 children at the school.  When the school opened on 11th September 1939 – a week later than originally scheduled as a result of the outbreak of war – there were 17 on roll, including three London children.  These latter pupils did not remain for long, however, as they were very soon afterwards ordered to go to Bridgewater.

 That year, instead of going for their usual Christmas treat to the Devizes pantomime, the pupils had a Christmas tea and games in the school a few days before Christmas Day itself.  As far as the summer holidays of 1940 were concerned, these were to be taken in brief instalments, beginning with the periods 5th to 9th July and 1st to 5th August.   The impact of the war was also felt when, overnight on the 8th/9th October 1940, a bomb was dropped on the downs close to the village.  As a result, the flagstaff, which was visible by moonlight, was taken down for the duration of the war.  Three years later, when the school was due to reopen on 10th January 1944 for a new term, it was prevented from doing so by the fact that 'nearby gun action' had caused a large portion of ceiling to fall; this was repaired and the school opened two days later.

In December 1942 there were 15 children on roll and on the 22nd of that month the children were given a “tea, Xmas tree, presents and books”, all provided from Maria Mathew’s Trust Fund. The first hot dinners, provided by the Ministry of Food and brought from Pewsey, were served to the children on 19th July 1943. 

Shortly before the end of the war, in January 1945, the school reopened with fewer pupils still; now there were 14 on roll.  Celebrations were enjoyed, however, when, on 8th and 9th May two days’ holiday were declared for Victory in Europe.

 Victory in Japan was declared on 15th August 1945 and on 4th October there was a Victory tea and entertainment in Kennett Valley Hall. 

Perhaps the treat of 3rd Jan. 1946 was a particularly happy one:  On this date, “All children and ex-children of School, with parents and friends, 41 in all, [were] taken to the pantomime 'Aladdin' in Swindon.  A good tea (with ices) was had in Marlborough on the way home'.