National School, Norton Bavant

In 1808 the employment of children in agriculture prevented a full-time school, but in the winter evenings they were instructed in reading and the catechism. In 1818 it was reported that the poorer children of the parish were generally taught to read, and that those unable to pay were instructed at the expense of certain individuals. There was a school in 1833 for between 20 and 30 children supported partly by subscriptions and partly by payments from parents. 

In 1843 Miss Benett gave a cottage and garden to the Rev Eliot and the Trustees of the School. Grants were made by the state and the National Society towards converting the cottage into a school for approximately 40 pupils. A cottage was conveyed as an endowment for the school in 1857, worth £400. A report written the following year by a school inspector noted a ‘tidy little school, with wood floor, in which 20-30 children are taught by a mistress’. In 1879 a new schoolroom was built, under the direction of the Rev Eliot Jnr. The new room was only fractionally bigger, measuring 23’ by 17’ 6” as opposed to the previous 20’ 6” by 17’ 6”.

The surviving managers’ minutes book starts in 1903. In 1909 the building sub-committee required the managers to provide adequate cloakroom accommodation, to rebuild the brickwork over the door of the boys’ offices and to arrange for the ventilation of the boys’ sanitary block.

The new cloakroom cost £16 10s. In 1911 the School Medical Officer was concerned that all the windows were shut. He instructed that the lower panes were to be converted into hoppers to improve ventilation.

There were no further major alterations at the school. In July 1920 it changed to a junior school and ten children aged eleven and over moved to Heytesbury school. In the same year the school received a poor report, and in 1921 when there was talk of closure, the managers did not object. At the end of February Miss Taylor left the school, leaving just the headmistress until the school closed in September 1921.

Unfortunately, no logbooks from the Victorian period survive in the public domain but we know in general terms what school life would have entailed. By 1880 children were educated up to the age of ten, although they could stay longer. The learning age was raised to eleven in 1893, when children normally started as infants, aged four or five. School fees, one penny or twopence a week, had been removed in 1891. The school day was likely to have been from 9.00 to 12.00 noon and from 2.00pm to 4.00pm. Children either brought their lunch and ate it in the schoolroom or went home to eat.

The teacher was assisted by paid monitors in their mid-teens or by a pupil teacher, who was training to become a certified teacher.

Lessons were the elementary ones of reading, writing and arithmetic with scripture; some lessons in the latter subject were taken by the vicar. The girls learned sewing and all had singing and recitation. Some geography and history would have been taught. School holidays were about a week or ten days at Christmas and Easter, a week at Whitsun and five weeks Harvest Holiday in the summer. Full day and half day holidays were given for various reasons such as church or chapel teas or Sunday school outings, Royal and national occasions and the afternoon after the H.M.I. examinations. Unauthorised absences included seasonal work on the farm and in the garden for the older children and visits to local fairs, military events and other local happenings.

The one surviving logbook for Norton Bavant starts in 1897. Logbooks are often dominated by attendance, as the school grant was paid according to examination results. Both sickness and bad weather were contributory factors. The children at North Farm, which was a fair distance from the village, were often unable to attend school due to bad weather. Both rain and snow were a problem, as most families could not afford protective clothing.

During winter the children were expected to cope with the usual coughs and colds, but infectious diseases were contained by closing the school.

In December 1900 Norton Bavant closed for a month following an outbreak of measles. In April 1905 the closure lasted five weeks due to chicken pox. In February 1913 there was a serious outbreak of whooping cough and the school initially closed for six weeks. It tried to reopen on March 24th but was forced to close again until April 7th as so few children were fit enough to return. Most of them were away for eight or nine weeks and the headmistress noted in the logbook that consequently their standard of work suffered.

School holidays at Norton Bavant were two weeks at Christmas, one week at Easter, two weeks in June for the hay harvest and four weeks in August for the grain harvest. The children were also given occasional treats, or extra days off for annual events such as the Warminster fair in October. The annual school treat was given in either June or August by the vicar and his wife. After a sumptuous tea, the children played games and held races in a field, where they also had sweets, nuts and cake. At Christmas time each child was given a bun and an orange, which was again kindly donated by the vicar. He also liked to encourage good attendance at school by offering prizes. In 1904 Dorothy Taylor was given a bronze medal in recognition of five years unbroken attendance; quite an achievement!

This little school was very fortunate in having its own cottage.

In many small villages the mistress was expected to find lodgings, which could deter some women from applying for a post. The longest serving mistress at Norton Bavant was Mrs. Mary Nash. She was in place on the 1881 census and stayed until 1897. Mrs Elizabeth Burnell was forced to retire in 1908 after seven years, due to ill health. There then followed three years of instability when the school had a succession of temporary mistresses. 

Mrs Elizabeth Blackburn took charge in June 1911 and within days she was writing in the logbook about severe disciplinary problems. No doubt the children were tired of a succession of mistresses with different methods. There may also have been problems with the older children, especially boys, who did not want to still be at school. Mrs Blackburn was not averse to caning the children and she also involved the vicar when dealing with a case of serious bad language.

In 1911 there were 43 pupils on the roll and this was the school’s highest number. Numbers stayed at about 30 until 1920. Difficulties began in January 1919 when the mistress suddenly developed problems with her sight and was away for 15 weeks. In March 1920 the school received a poor report when the inspector noted the children’s ‘listlessness and apathy [which] point to the absence of bright and energetic teaching’. Initially the managers wanted to change Norton Bavant to an infant school with Miss Evans as the only teacher.

They were aware that some parents had taken their children out of the school due to the staffing difficulties.

In January 1921 pupil numbers were down to eight and the Director of Education wanted to close the school. The managers were against closure, believing the low numbers to be a temporary situation. They wanted to dismiss the headmistress and replace her with an uncertificated teacher, which would have saved money. Unfortunately this was not acceptable and the school closed on September 30th. The remaining pupils all moved to Heytesbury school.