<< Return to page 2	Custom Search

From January 1877, when Miss Amelia Taylor became the Mistress in place of Miss Neville, the pattern of school life continued as before in the main, although there were some changes of emphasis. The efforts to prepare the children for the annual examination continued; Grammar was added to the home-work. When attendance was poor Miss Taylor herself spent the time “working up the backward children in arithmetic.” Spelling books and atlases were sold to the children to encourage study at home. Specimen work for the examination held in January, is in active preparation from October, new copy books making their appearance at this time. The pressure of work is such that parents are recorded as complaining that the children were working too hard and they refused to allow the children to do any more work at home.

As the children's work is completed for the inspection, the pupil-teacher is given the opportunity to “take the older children for Geography,” a task too important to entrust to inexperienced hands until the children have been well and truly drilled in the subject.

At this point it may be of interest to show the scope of the work the Mistress attempted to teach, as shown by the school log book for the period 1872-1877.

Children of 7, 8 and 9 years were taught reduction of money; compound long division; long division of money. Children of 10, 11 and 12, were taught Practice and Proportion; while children of 9 years to 10 years were taught reduction and long division applied to weights and measures. In Geography facts relating to the counties, mountains and rivers of Britain had to be remembered, details of the countries of Europe and their physical features were drilled into the children. By 1880 the syllabus was extended to Grammar, Geography, Music and Recitation – and these subjects could be offered for examination. It should be noted that unless a subject was to be offered for examination, it was not taught. The syllabus was necessarily restricted to examination subjects as only by success in these could grant in aid be obtained from the Government. The names of the songs to be taught during the year are recorded in the school log, and as each one is first introduced to the children an appropriate entry is made.

Among the songs listed are “The first Grief”. “Life is full of Ups and Downs”, “Lateness for School” “The Song of the Grass”, “If a Body Finds a Lesson”, “Angry Words”, “Work for the Night is Coming”, “The Canadian Boat Song”.

The Infants would learn, “Twinkle Twinkle little Star,” “The Farmer”, “Cleanliness”, “Clap Clap, Hurrah.”

The problem of poor attendance continued to thwart the best efforts of the teachers. Children were absent often for long periods, sometimes for as long as six months. Some days less than six children would report for school. However in 1878 there was promise of official action being taken to deal with this question of poor attendance.

Although Tiptree Heath had been formed into an Ecclesiastic Parish in1858 no steps had been taken to form a new civil parish; thus in 1878 are recorded the first visits of the attendance officers of the civil parishes of Tolleshunt Knights, Inworth, Maldon and Witham. Each of these took note of the absentees living in his area and in due course sent warning notices to the parents concerned. As a result, the Mistress is able to report in the log, “all the Tolleshunt Knights children are present, warning notices having been sent to the parents.” Children who had been absent for many months now returned to school; thus the average attendance for November of that year was 91, “the highest for any week.” Unfortunately this happy state of affairs did not last long. Inclement weather was more than a mere excuse to stay away from school when one lived over two miles away and walking the only means of travelling. Parents soon learned that the warning notices were not followed by prosecutions. During the period there is no record of parents being prosecuted for keeping children from school. Despite the pleas of teacher, Rector and the attendance officer, such factors as the needs for child labour, inclement weather, the widely scattered village and the usual children's illnesses still kept the scholar away from school. A further effort was made to equate the demands of the district to the educational needs of the children. In 1879 a special holiday of three weeks declared in July to enable the children to assist in the pea picking; the Harvest Holiday which normally commenced at the beginning of August was reduced to three weeks and was postponed till the end of August, running into September. But this adjustment appeared to have little good effect; parents kept the children at work in the fields long after the holiday was over, in fact the pea picking holiday was continued right through to the Harvest Holiday and beyond it.

There are very few references to punishment in these early years in the school records, but there is evidence that children might be kept in after school and that two boys were “severely punished for bullying”. Later the Rector expelled two boys for “being a great deal of trouble since they have been at this school.”

In November, 1881, there is the first record of the school registers being checked by the school Managers, which then became an annual duty. The importance that the registers enjoyed can be seen from the care with which every error made in these was noted in the log together with the action taken to correct it.

In 1882, a new Rector, the Reverend A.C. Fenn, was inducted in place of the Rev. F.R. Laurence. The new Rector began to take the two upper classes for Scripture weekly.

Important changes in the curriculum are shown from 1883. Poems to be presented by the children for examination are listed and approved by Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, at the beginning of each year. “The First and Second Standards (seven to eight year old) are to learn “The Village Blacksmith”. The Third and Fourth Standard are to learn “The Wreck of the Hesperus” and “The Burial of Sir John Moore.” The Fifth and Sixth Standards (the oldest children) are to learn “The May Queen”. The Code of 1876 lays down the syllabus for English Literature as follows:-

“1st year – One hundred lines of poetry, got by heart, with knowledge of meanings and allusions. Writing a letter on a simple subject.

2nd year – Two hundred lines of poetry, not before brought up, repeated, with knowledge of meanings and allusions. Writing a paraphrase of a passage of easy prose.

3rd year – Three hundred lines of poetry, not before brought up, repeated, with knowledge of meanings and allusions. Writing a letter or statement, the heads of the topics to be given by the inspector.”

Object Lessons make their first appearance in the school log on February 7th 1883, where the entry reads “Mary Sibley, Assistant Mistress, gave an object lesson on “salt” to the first Standard and Infants, there being very few of the latter present.” At the beginning of each term the object lessons for the period were listed; each and every object lesson given is faithfully recorded in the log. Later it was found necessary “to give three object lessons a week now, so that we are able to get through the course of lessons set down for this quarter.” Sometimes these object lessons were given by the Mistress herself, but more frequently the were given by the assistant in charge of the infants. At this time History was to be included as a subject that could be presented for examination.

The threat of the examination is constantly apparent in the logs; for instance, from October in the year 1883 it is recorded that mental arithmetic was practised for twenty minutes every morning. When this proved in-sufficient, the time usually given to recreation – outside play – was taken also. In order that the infants may reach the desired standard the pupil teachers spent most of their time recapitulating the object lessons already given. The Rector came into school to test the older children's knowledge of Geography – particularly local geography. Hence the Inspector's report for the following January shows “fair attention has been given to mental arithmetic and in the Infant class attention has been given to Object lessons, but in this matter there is want of method.” The difficulties occasioned by poor attendance are noticed, as he goes on to say, “The greatest hindrance to success in this school is the extreme irregularity of attendance.”

There is indication that some children were now staying longer in school. Most left at twelve, but occasionally some stayed on until after their thirteenth birthday.

Esther Collings became School Mistress in place of Miss Taylor from January 1884. The number of children on roll had now risen to 167 and attendances were as high as 107, but the over-all picture is one of poor attendance dropping to around 40 and often less. Only by very special effort on the part of the staff and Rector was it possible to get a good attendance for the visit of the Diocesan Inspector. In extreme cases a pony and trap would be sent to convey children to school in time. Although the number of children on roll had increased there was no increase in the teacher staff, probably because attendance was so poor and the church's inability to afford the additional cost.

During Miss Collings's period as Mistress there are few changes. A new subject became eligible for grant – Composition. Testing for the H.M.I. visit began as early as May, even in knitting. It is recorded that the needlework lessons included the making of button holes, cutting out, marking, and the sewing on of tapes.

The effect of the East Anglian earthquake on 22nd April, 1884 receives small notice in the school log because the Mistress was in London that day. However, the Rector made a special entry in the Church Records of Wardens' Appointments, which is of some interest and is quoted below:-

“On Tuesday morning, April 22nd, 1884, I went to the National School and opened it with prayer at 9. o'clock. About 9.20 or there-abouts, there was an evident shock of earthquake. The walls apparently swayed to and fro – there was an upheaval of the floor, together with a great and alarming noise. The children, 105 in number, were panic stricken and rushed frantically from the room. Fortunately it lasted only some five or ten seconds and no damage was done. The clock stopped at 9.20 am. The clock in the rectory also stopped and the bells were set ringing. Although little or no damage was done in this parish, in the adjoining parishes of Wigboro, Peldon, East and West Mersea, Langenhoe, Fingringhoe, Abberton, Wyvenhoe and Colchester, there was great loss of property. But no lives were lost. Laus Deo.”

In December, 1885, the British and Foreign Society's School attached to the Dissenters' Meeting House, closed and the children, some 23 boys and girls, were transferred to the Church School. Thus the school opened it January, 1886 with 196 children on roll. It was now grossly overcrowded and there was a prospect that a further 100 children would require places in the near future.

A public meeting was called by the Rector on January 11th, 1886, to discuss the problem, at which he made a plea that the Church should try to provide the extra places by voluntary effort. The alternative was made clear by the Inspectorate. If the Church could not provide the places, a School Board would have to be formed and a Board school built in the parish. The Education Act, 1870, states that where voluntary effort is not sufficient to provide the elementary education for a district, the town council in a borough, or the vestry in the country areas may form a School Board which would have the power to build new schools or assist existing schools from the rates. School fees would continue at these new schools provided by the Board; a conscience clause would be operative and attendance would be made compulsory by the passing of suitable Bye-laws. The form of Religious instruction to be given at these Board Schools would be decided by the Board.

This the Church people of Tiptree Heath did not want. At the meeting it was agreed by an almost unanimous vote that the places should be provided by the church, a subscription list was opened there and then and produced £38. The National Society was asked to make a grant to assist in the enlarging of the school to provide places for 68 boys and 46 infants. A grant of £40 was eventually received from the Society.

Writing to the National Society on this project, the Rector accused the Dissenters of thrusting the burden upon the Established Church, because they wished to see a School Board formed in the hope that a Board School would be built to accommodate exclusively those children shut out from the British and Foreign Society's School in December, 1885. Should this happen, the Rector thought it would mean that the Dissenters would benefit from rate aided education for their children, while the Church would still be faced with maintaining the Church school from its own funds. Thus a split in educational provision would be created; one which would be greatly to the detriment of the Church. Incidentally, he claimed that voluntary subscriptions were more difficult to come by as there were no wealthy land-owners in the district and the farmers, chiefly tenants, were complaining loudly and suffering greatly from the general depression. The Rector himself had a large family of nine children and could give nothing.

A School Board was not set up, the efforts of the Church with the small assistance received from the National Society and the Diocesan Board, raised enough money to build a new classroom 34 feet by 16 feet by 14 feet for the boys' department and enlarged the infant room by adding 12 feet to its length. The total cost of this work was £439 of which £40 came from the National Society and £15 from the Diocesan Board; thus the sum of £384 was raised by voluntary effort – no mean feat.