Upton Lovell School

In 1794 the Rev John Crouch, rector of Upton Lovell, invested £500, the interest from which was to be used by the current rector to pay a resident schoolmaster. His role was to teach and instruct six poor children of the parish to read and write, except in the harvest months or in case of sickness. On every Sunday from September through to March he was to spend three hours in the afternoon (after the church service) teaching any children sent to him to read and learn their Catechism. If no master could be found, the money was to be spent on blankets and clothes for the poor.

The rector alone had the power to appoint a master and to nominate the six children. If any child missed school for more than three days without good reason, they were dismissed and another child appointed in their place. In 1833 when a report was issued by the Charity Commissioners, James Dye had been the schoolmaster for ten years. His salary was £15. The six children in his care were admitted at the age of six and allowed to remain for three years. Few children stayed for this length of time, but those who did had the opportunity to learn to write. Mr Dye was also teaching 17 pupils who paid for their education. The school was kept in his house and the parish paid the rent.

In 1855 the £500 investment fund was transferred into the hands of the Charity Commissioners. The rector noted that it was difficult to run a school properly without a schoolroom.

The neighbouring parish of Boyton was about to build a school at Corton and the rector suggested that Upton Lovell children could attend this school. The charity money was probably used to support this school until 1870, when the rector gave a small part of the glebe land known as Rectory Field, next to the rectory garden, to enable a school to be built.

Unfortunately no logbooks have survived 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 often 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 10 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.

An alternative source for the 19^th century is the Bishop’s Visitation Returns which included a question on schools. Although the children left school at a young age the vicar ran a very successful night school (started in 1858) which many children attended. They also attended the Sunday school. In 1864 the report noted that the leaving age was 8-10 years, but by 1876 the boys were staying until the age of 12 and the girls until aged 14. The average number of pupils at this time was 27.

The annual reports from the 1920s have survived; the overall picture was that the school was struggling to retain its staff. Children like continuity, but when Mrs Emily Brooker left the school in 1915 after approximately 15 years, no one after her stayed more than three years.

In February 1918 the head teacher Miss Stevens was absent through sickness and the school managers were unable to find a replacement. The children were temporarily sent to the schools in Boyton and Heytesbury. A new head teacher, Miss Bell, was appointed in November 1919.

By February 1920 she was still on her own and teaching 25 children. A supplementary teacher had been appointed. The Inspector suggested the children aged 11 and over should be transferred to Heytesbury School.

Between 1923 and 1929 the staffing changed four times. The Inspector drew attention to this constant change of staff and lack of continuity in his report: ‘The present head teacher seems to be somewhat bewildered at the conditions and there was a depressing air of neglect about this school’.

In July 1934 there was talk of closing the school but the school managers objected. In September of that year changes took place at the Codford schools; St Mary’s became a junior school and St Peter’s an infant school. Upton Lovell School finally closed in December 1934. The younger children attended one of the schools in Codford and the senior pupils were taken by bus to school in Warminster.