All Saints School, Landford

There was a dame school, with 14 children, in 1818 and one continued into the early 1840s. A meeting regarding the provision of a new school was held in 1842. Lady Nelson gave a site for the schoolroom, schoolmaster's house, garden and playground, while money for the building came from local private subscriptions, a grant from the National Society and a government building grant. The school and school house were built for just over £300. The school could accommodate 106 children, a non-certified teacher was appointed as master and his wife as mistress. In 1846 there were 38 boys and 29 girls attending the Sunday and Day Schools and the master and mistress were paid a joint salary of £45 a year. By 1858 there was a qualified schoolmistress, appointed that January, and a pupil teacher with 40 children. The schoolroom measured 26 feet by 17 feet, with a boarded floor and desks fitted to the walls.

The school logbooks, deposited in the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, Chippenham, start in 1862 and reveal many interesting features of school life. In 1859 a certified master, Mr. H. Churchill, had been appointed, with his sister as assistant mistress. In the 1860s there were children under four years at school. The younger children used slates to write on but the older ones also used copybooks and exercise books. The school day was 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon and 2.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m. and many of the children brought their dinners to eat in the schoolroom. The schoolroom was heated by an open fire that was not normally lit until early November. The children were responsible for cleaning the schoolroom and toilet and washing the towel; in 1865 a rota for these jobs was set up so that job allocation was fair. The children brought 1d (about 0.4p) a week for their school fees and this was collected on Mondays. In 1865 a delivery of school equipment is recorded showing what the children used. This included 18 slates, a range of reading books, boxes of pens, pencils and penholders, copybooks, textbooks on needlework, algebra and Euclid and a set of reading cards.

The infants learned basic reading, writing and arithmetic and also had scripture lessons. When they were seven they moved to Standard I and were separated into the boys and girls school. In the 1860s the older children also studied geography and history and did dictation, mental arithmetic, spelling, grammar and needlework. In arithmetic they did tables, multiplication, compound addition, simple proportion, short division, reduction and weights and measures. They also learned hymns, the catechism and poetry. Compositions were written on such subjects as 'a garden', 'a cat', 'water' and 'The British Isles'. Singing lessons began in November 1864 and the children attended weekday church services at 11.30 a.m., especially on Saint's days. Mr. Churchill seems to have been a little in advance of his time, as besides not apparently making ver much use of the cane as a punishment, he provided individual instruction for children who were slow learners.

By the late 1870s a new method of teaching arithmetic was being used, natural history was taught and there were regular singing lessons. The children did long division and composition subjects included 'George Stephenson'. Some children were learning very well as in 1877 a six year old girl was entered in Standard I examination by mistake and passed in all three subjects. In the 1880s object lessons were introduced, which in 1886 included such subjects as 'rooms of a house', 'materials for clothing', 'sun, moon and stars', 'a letter', building a house', 'good behaviour', 'wild flowers', 'dogs', 'bees' and 'a railway'.

School holidays varied a little in the latter half of the 19th century. In the early 1860s there was a week at Christmas, but in 1865 this changed to Christmas Day only and two and a half weeks in January, while in 1866 there was Christmas Day, one day in January and two weeks in February. Later this reverted to a few days at Christmas. Easter holidays were ten days or two weeks while in the 1860s there was one day at Whitsun, which increased to one week or ten days in the 1880s. The Harvest Holiday was one month, mostly in August when children helped in the harvest fields or carried food and drink to their parents who were working there. Half day and whole day holidays were also given throughout the year. Sometimes these were for special reasons such as the school treat, and the school concert from 1881. Other individual events included cleaning out the toilets in 1863, an inquest held in the schoolroom in 1863, and for the funeral of the rector and school correspondent, the Rev. Girdlestone, in 1884. The schoolroom was also used for evening meetings and sometimes school started late because the room had been left in a mess by the adults.

Not all children attended school regularly although there were prizes for those who did. Some children did not turn up for several months having been kept away to work at home or on the farm. There were also seasonal reasons why children were absent for a few days. These included haymaking in June, gleaning (finding fallen ears of corn in the fields) in September, and collecting acorns (for the pigs) in October. At times a local attraction proved irresistible to children and they would miss school and go to the Downton Fair, the Flower Show at Melchet Park or the chapel tea meeting. Other reasons included minding sheep or pigs, not having any shoes and Coronation Day 28 June 1864 when so many children were away in the morning that a half-day holiday was given in the afternoon.

Children were frequently ill and as well as the usual coughs and colds there were more serious illnesses from which children could die. 'Fevers' were often recorded and this was probably scarlet fever from which two children died between 1860 and 1864. Measles are frequently recorded and most of the children were affected. Whooping cough and scarletina were also common. There was a rule that if one child in a family had an infectious disease their brothers and sisters could not attend school. One boy broke his leg and unfortunately died while undergoing an operation on it. Some illness were self inflicted such as the girl who was off school in July 1864 because she ate too many unripe apples.

Attendance at school slowly increased during the latter half of the 19th century. It seems to have averaged between 60 and 70 in the 1860s and 1870s with 43 boys and 24 girls recorded in 1865. By 1886 there were 101 children on the register but the average attendance was only about 75. The weather frequently affected attendance particularly when it was wet or stormy. Snowstorms also greatly reduced the numbers with heavy snow recorded in February 1864, December 1869 and January 1871. In January 1881 the school was closed for two weeks because of the worst weather for many years. Hot weather also affected the children in the small schoolroom and it is sometimes recorded that the heat made them restless.

The school was fortunate in having infrequent changes of senior staff. Mr. Churchill and his sister stayed for 19 years with various pupil teachers, taught by the head in the evening, and many monitors. In April 1877 Mr. Churchill retired because of ill health and he and his sister were replaced by Mr. and Mrs. Newey on 16 April. There were frequent visits from the rector and his family, the school manager, the Attendance Officer, the Officer of Nuisances and various members of the Nelson family. Some of these gave lessons in the school and the school managers provided the materials for needlework. These people also provided special events for the children such as assembling the Sunday School children at the school on 31 July 1877 and walking to Landford House, where they were entertained with games and tea. In the same year there was an evening magic lantern show in the schoolroom.

As with all school children there was a certain amount of misbehaviour and Mr. Churchill showed much fairness and ingenuity in his punishments. Good marks were prized as they could lead to rewards and so children who behaved badly in church, played outside the playground or school field, or climbed hedges were deducted marks or lost a week's worth. In 1863 one boy lost ten marks for saying 'wicked words' in school. Other misbehaviour included fighting (very rare), playing around the toll bar, poor schoolwork, carving on desks, pulling girls' hair and throwing stones. Punishments might include, learning and repeating the Baptismal Vow and the Belief, being kept in after school or sitting in silence for ten minutes. In 1864 the whole school was kept back for 30 minutes for talking in class while when two boys broke a pane of glass they were charged 1d (about 0.4p) each. When one boy confessed to throwing stones at windows and breaking them he was forgiven, as he had owned up. In 1864 there was a problem with children hopping and jumping in the schoolroom during dinnertime and they were warned that they would not be able to stay at school to eat their dinner if this continued.

Although not making great use of the cane Mr. Churchill did record that he cut a cane for the bigger boys in 1875. Mr. Newey, his successor, seems to have made more use of this as a punishment including, in 1877, caning two boys for smoking short clay pipes. He also seems to have introduced the writing of 'lines' as a punishment and there are instances of 500 or 1,000 lines being set.

The school received fairly good H.M.I. reports in the 1860s and 1870s. An evening school, for older boys who were working, was also run and this seems to have been fairly successful. The school at Nomansland opened on 9 October 1865 and this meant that a few children who lived closer to that school now attended the new one. An extra classroom and a porch, for the children's capes and cloaks, were added to the school. Records of supplies arriving at the school continue to show what the children were using. In 1866 the National Society sent lesson books, readers, arithmetic books, copybooks, a box of pens, 24 framed slates, 12 reels of cotton, needles and 24 thimbles. In 1867 prizes were given for passes in examinations and medals and certificates were also awarded. In 1870 both missionary books and dusters for the blackboard and slates were supplied. In 1876 the children made a small collection to give a present to their pupil teacher when she completed her time at the school and qualified as a teacher. She was later engaged as an assistant teacher at the school. Foolscap paper and exercise books were provided for the older children in the 1870s.

The school received much more equipment in the 1880s. In 1882 the National Society supplied; an abacus on a stand, a set of multiplication tables on a board, four dozen Bibles and four dozen New Testaments with many other books, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments on board, needles, thimbles and cotton. In 1883 the school ordered, from Nelson & Sons (publishers), two dozen 'Stories from English History', and 18 Royal History Books, in which the children were most interested. In 1886 six dozen infants' slates and many 'Royal Map Books' and 'Geography Readers' for different standards were received.

Building work continued and in 1886 a bedroom and sitting room were added to the schoolhouse at a cost of £97.10.0d (£97.50p), while in 1891 a clock tower was added to the school in memory of Miss Ellen Austed of Brooklands. Until 1893 children only had to stay at school until they were ten although some children stayed until they were twelve. In 1893 the leaving age was raised to eleven and was raised again, to twelve, in 1899, except for those employed in farming. Around 1905 Wiltshire County Council took over as the local education authority and in 1918 the leaving age was raised to fourteen, at which it remained until 1947. School fees had been abolished in 1896 and from then all children were educated free of charge.

In 1926 the headmaster was replaced by a headmistress, and from then headmistresses presided at the school. There was a drainage scheme implemented in 1936-7 to prevent flooding in the area of the school. Throughout its life the school had been an elementary (all age) school but in 1944 the older children were transferred to Downton and Landford School became an infants' and junior school for children aged eleven and under. In 1955 there were only 25 children but this had risen to 42, aged from four to eleven years, in 2002. Recently a handsome new block has been built behind the original school and all lessons now take place in it.