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In February 1898, Mr Coates resigned his post as Master to become Relieving Officer of the Lexden and Winstree Board of Guardians. Mrs Coates continued as Mistress of the Infant school. The duties of the Relieving Officer included those of School Attendance Officer, so Mr Coates was now responsible for the fostering of good attendance throughout his area. Within a few days of his resignation as Master his name appears in the log as calling for the list of absentees.

This time over thirty people applied for the post of Headmaster of the school and eventually Mr William Paine, Certificated Master, was appointed at a salary of £100 per annum, plus free dwelling. Two of the assistant mistresses left immediately after the all important H.M.I.'s inspection that year. Mr Paine had two new Certificated Mistresses and two pupil-teachers to assist him in due course.

He soon introduced a new interesting subject into the curriculum, Elementary Science, which was to take the place of History. In the log book his entries of schemes of work for each year in this new subject and his suggestions as to how he proposed to teach it are most detailed. “By permission of the H.M.I. and the Managers, I am introducing Elementary Science in lieu of History, as calculated to develop the children's powers of observation and general intelligence. I intend in Standards I, II and III taking object lessons in plant and animal life an common objects. In Standard IV to VII, Plant life growth of parts and functions and elementary physics. I have made cases and filled them with specimens to illustrate the above and have chosen the lessons I can illustrate by actual objects and wall sheets. I lend these to the school.”

“Work for the year ending March, 1900. Elementary Science, Standards I and II:-

Plant life: Parts of the plant, Roots, Stems, Leaves. Sugar. Coffee. Cocoa. Tea. Rice. Mustard. India Rubber.

Animal Life. Fish. Birds. Horses. Rates. Frogs. Butterflies. Bees.

Common Things. Water. Salt. Powders. Pastes. Things that dissolve, that melt, that bend.

...and so on.

The School as it would have appeared in the early C20th...	...and a similar view today. The building on the left is very recent, but like other extensions has been very sympathetic to the original.

Mr Paine appears to have been most resourceful and energetic. He claims that this change of subject and his emphasis on teaching it resulted in “an awakening of interest in the children”. He records too that he was “brightening up the school by hanging interesting, stimulating pictures and practical mottoes on the walls in frames specially made by myself.” Examples of these pictures are the “Charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman.” and “Egyptian Despatch Rider.” He also made frames for the display of children's work and for animal subjects. He reports, “the children are enjoying their work and are eager to see it exhibited.”

The earliest reports from H.M.I. during Mr Paine's Headmastership criticises severely the discipline and attainments of the school, but later ones comment more favourably on the discipline and claim that “the children are more intelligent than formerly.” It seems that the Master's enlightened methods were bearing fruit and his new approach to teaching is seen in two further entries:- “Lessons in Common Objects were taken outside today” and “all the children went for a ramble today.” In 1900 Mr Paine is congratulated on these changes by H.M.I. However, later official reports indicate “despite the good work by the Headmaster, high standards or attainments are not likely to be gained unless he gets more efficient help and something is done about the poor attendance.” Sickness, field work and inclement weather are still the chief causes for poor attendance. On the other hand there appears to be a most irresponsible attitude on the part of the Managers in the indiscriminate way in which the school is used for bazaars, concerts and flower shows. On one occasion the school is closed for a whole week on account of a bazaar. In addition to the day of closure for such purposes, school work would be disrupted on the day before and the morning after the function, either to get the room ready for the function or to clear up after it was over.

Pupil teachers were continuing to attend the training centres in Colchester each week and the Managers made a grant to each to assist with travelling expenses.

The beginning of the new century did not call forth any special note in the school log books, but there is record of a photographer visiting the school to take photographs of the children in 1901.

The building of the light railway from Kelvedon to Tollesbury via Tiptree was commenced in 1901. This work finds mention in the log as the workers and their families were accommodated in hutments near the village. The children of these workers attended the school; but in 1903 they were all excluded because of an outbreak of small-pox among them.

The effect of the Education Act, 1902 is not to be discerned in the log until October 1st, 1903, when a simple entry states, “The school today comes under the County Council.” The impact of this new Act is now felt, as stock sheets and statements relating to teachers' salary compiled.

The gallery which had had such an eventful history over the years again came in for censure by H.M.I., who since 1901 had commented unfavourably upon this “aid to class teaching”. In 1903 it was finally replaced by desks “to the great advantage of the class”.

The difficulties under which the headmaster worked from October 1903 to January, 1904 can be readily seen from the log covering this period. For some reason not stated, two of his assistants left and for a greater part of this time he was unable to find replacements and he carried on the whole of the mixed school alone. At this time there were 180 children in attendance and the prospects of getting help were slight. Appeals to the new education department of the County Council brought no respite. Somewhat apologetically the Headmaster writes, “I find it impossible to strictly adhere to the time table.” The position now was so acute that the visiting Inspector ordered the school to be closed pending the supply of assistant teachers, but such was the power of the new education department (Local Advisory Committee) that they forbade any such closure and Mr Paine had to continue his unequal struggle. The Managers, however, decided “to close the school occasionally for a relief from the strain and to reduce the length of the Christmas holidays accordingly.”

The changes proposed in the 1902 Education Act did not go unnoticed in the village. The members of the Dissenters' Meeting House, now known locally as the Congregational Chapel, had voiced their desire to be represented on the Management Committee of the Church school as long ago as 1886, without success. This new Act of Parliament gave parents the right to be so represented.

Unfortunately the dissenters were still not satisfied as there were features about the new Act which they did not like. It will be remembered that in 1886 the Church people fought grimly to prevent the School Board being formed in the area, as they feared they would be called upon to pay rates to sustain any Board school that might be built and still have the difficult task of collecting subscriptions for the support of their own Church school. The 1902 Act reversed the situation so that the Dissenters, as ratepayers, would in effect be now supporting the Church school, as a portion of their rates would be used to pay teachers' salaries there. This was considered a grave injustice, particularly as Tiptree was a single school area. In order to draw attention to these matters a number of the Congregational Chapel members (the Dissenters), led by Mr A.C. Wilkin, the owner of the prosperous fruit growing and preserving factory in the village, began a campaign of passive resistance. Those who were parents of children attending the Church school with-drew them from religious instruction; more than forty-five children were so withdrawn at this time, creating considerable difficulties in this cramped, overcrowded school. Some of these parents took advantage of the situation sending their children to school only after the religious instruction had been given. It is evident that there was considerable feeling between the two sides in the village over this dispute, which had really begun almost twenty years before.

When the Act came into force in October, 1903, the “Passive Resisters” refused to pay their rates, or at least that part of the rate that was likely to be used for education services.

In the considerable notice given in the local press there is a tremendous sense of comedy in the whole proceedings which belies to some extent the sincerity and seriousness of the “Passive Resisters” motives. A person refusing to pay his rates would find himself charged and/or some of his goods restrained. The case would be heard at Witham Police Court, where a fine would be imposed. The Passive Resister who refused to pay both the fine and the rates due would have his goods sold by auction in order to recover the amount of these, plus the costs of the court case. The public auctions were usually held in the police station yard and attracted considerable attention. The Press and public would be present. The police, under their officer, would stand around the edge of the yard ready to deal with any disturbance. The officer in charge usually commenced the proceedings by warning everybody he was “going to stand for no nonsense.” The auctioneer would be a professional man giving his services free. Items belonging to the Passive Resisters would then be offered for sale. These items, after some tentative bidding, would be “knocked down” to the owner, unless some daring member of the crowd, hoping to take advantage of the situation to get a bargain made an offer. If this happened, one of the Resister's friends would make a substantially increased offer and so make the purchase. The money would be handed over, the fine paid, the rates and the cost of the court extracted and a public meeting would proceed at which the case for the Resisters would be forcibly put. Providing the meeting were orderly, it would draw to a close and a vote of thanks would be voiced to the police for their courtesy in allowing the police station yard to be used for the sale and the meeting. Unfortunately, things did not always finish so quietly, noisy elements, out for fun or trouble, found these affairs a lively source of entertainment and the police often had the task of restoring order and preventing damage to persons and property.

To further the cause of the “Passive Resisters”, the Tiptree Citizens' League was formed. This body provided legal assistance to its members when faced with court proceedings; its main aim was to object to the supporting of Sectarian schools; the compulsory attendance of Non-Conformists at a voluntary school in a single school area; and to the theological tests imposed upon teachers in these denominational schools. Both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic Church were subject to these objections. As the year 1904 drew to a close, the Passive Resisters resigned themselves to the fact that nothing more could be done at that time.

The Church school, despite its many extensions, was now proving inadequate for the number of children in its area. H.M.I. reports complained of the lack of space, the state of the buildings, lavatories, ventilation and the playgrounds. At one time 81 children were in the charge of one teacher in one classroom. Numbers were steadily growing. In 1905 there were 188 children in the mixed department and 90 in the infants, a total of 278. In July 1905, the newly established Essex Education Committee called apublic meeting to investigate and discuss the question of providing additional school accommodation. For the first time, the Church was not prepared to shoulder the burden longer and it was decided to recommend that a new Council school, to take 150 children, be built in the west end of the village near the Ship Inn. Unfortunately, four years were to pass before even the first stone was laid. The school was not opened until January 1910. During these years of waiting the conditions at the Church school had to be tolerated, although efforts were made to rectify the deficiencies noted at each inspection by H.M.I.s.

These unsatisfactory conditions probably account for the opening of a number of private schools, chiefly preparatory schools, in the village, where parents who could afford the fees could send their children. One of these schools offered board and education for eight guineas a term; or day schooling for 17/6d per term for those under twelve years of age. These schools were not for the children of the agricultural worker, who still represented the greatest number in the village. The weekly cash wage of these workers averaged only 15/- per week. However, the many small holders who were now springing up, the small farmers, tradesmen and shopkeepers may have been able to take advantage of these additional educational facilities.

The scale of salaries paid to teachers by the newly formed Local Education Authority in 1906 was as detailed below.

Headteacher (male) - £130 per annum.

Headteacher (female) - £94 per annum

Assistant (female) Certificated - £61 per annum

Pupil teachers - £40 per annum

The school cleaner was paid 6/- per week, while somebody was paid 1/6d per week for emptying the earth closets. The Headmaster had now to pay for his dwelling, £11 : 10 : - per year.

It is clear that parents were now showing more interest in the education of their children. Some complained to the Managers that they were dissatisfied with the standards of education their children were receiving; the resultant enquiry showed that there were among the pupils twenty very backward boys and girls. It was proposed at this stage to engage a supplementary teacher for these in order that they might receive more attention.

In 1906 Mr Birrell, the President of the Board of Education, which was established in 1902, introduced a Bill to abolish the existing Dual system in Education. That is the system which allowed voluntary bodies, such as the Church of England, to control schools and to open schools in addition to those that may be controlled or opened by the state through its local education committees. This Bill proposed to transfer all Voluntary schools, such as Tiptree Church school, to the state; to provide for denominational religious instruction to be given only twice weekly by nominees of the denominational authorities, not by teachers in the school, and to abolish theological tests for teachers. This Bill created a storm throughout the country. In Tiptree, the Church members made tremendous efforts to rouse the inhabitants in protest. Meetings were held, pamphlets distributed, sermons preached, funds raised and notices in the Parish Magazine declaimed the measure as “unjust – 'irreligious and tyrannical”. The Bill was withdrawn.