Education in Clophill
St.Mary's church, Clophill about 1900
Early Education
The parish records for Clophill contain an interesting document of 21 Jun 1630 in which Richard Read senior, of Clophill, tanner gave a piece of ground measuring 16.5 feet by 24 feet north of the highway to the minister of Clophill and other trustees to "build a convenient school-house for the education and religious upbringing of the children of Clophill in virtue and learning, and for the habitation and dwelling of a schoolmaster, he being a discreet, well-learned man of honest life, civil carriage and good behaviour".
The Bishop of Lincoln carried out visitations to Bedfordshire in 1717 and 1720 and for both of these a list of questions was sent out in advance, one of which enquired about the provision of schools in each parish. Of Clophill it was reported that there was no schooling at all for poor children, clearly indicating that the intended school of 1630 was either never built or had closed before 1717. This is supported by the report of the Charity Commissioners into Bedfordshire educational charities in the early nineteenth century. They found that at Clophill the Poor's Estate rent, amounting to £11/17/10 per annum "is applied…partly in educating poor children…The sum of £6 per annum…is appropriated…to the purpose, and is now paid to the master of a Sunday school, at which about 60 boys are regularly instructed…in reading and the Church Catechism. The money was formerly paid to a schoolmaster, as an annual stipend, for the education of eight poor boys of the parish, in reading and writing; but being found inadequate to the instruction of that number of children, in both branches of education, it was considered more useful to employ it as at present, towards the support of a Sunday School". In those days a Sunday School was just that, a school which met on a Sunday, usually in the church or nonconformist chapel or other similar building, teaching more than the religious topics with which they are associated today.
In 1818 a Select Committee was established to enquire into educational provision for the poor. This was no doubt prompted, in part, by the recent foundation of two societies promoting education and specifically the building of schools. The Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor was established in 1808 promoting schools run along the lines pioneered by Joseph Lancaster, who had himself copied those of Dr.Andrew Bell, in which older children taught their younger fellows. The Society was renamed the British and Foreign School Society in 1814,. It was supported by a number of prominent nonconformists, Lancaster himself was a Quaker, and sought to teach a non-sectarian curriculum. In answer to this perceived nonconformist takeover of local education the National Society was firmed in 1811 to encourage the teaching of poor children along Anglican lines, including the catechism. The Select Committee sent a questionnaire to all parishes in the country asking for: particulars relating to endowments for the education of children; other educational institutions; observations of parish needs etc. The return for Clifton stated that the Sunday school had 60 boys. A further two Sunday Schools for 80 girls existed "30 of whom are clothed"! It was recorded that ‘the poor are desirous of education’
In the country generally the number of schools built continued to grow over the next fifteen years so that by 1833 the government agreed to supplement the work of the two societies, and local benefactors, by making £20,000 per annum available in grants to help build schools. It also prompted another questionnaire to be sent to each parish in England asking for details of local educational provision. For Clophill it was recorded that there were three daily schools, two of which contained 10 boys and 15 girls. The other accommodated 18 boys and 18 girls. All the children were supported by payments from their parents. Most of the children left these schools at an early age and attend straw-plait schools. In addition there were two Anglican Sunday schools attended by 108 boys in one, 85 girls in the other. The boys Sunday school was supported by an endowment of £6 to the master while the girls school was funded by voluntary contributions.
Clophill National Schools around 1900
Clophill National School
Clophill was awarded a grant to build a National School between 1834-8. They received £50 for new school to accommodate 110 children. The parish records [P45/29/2] contain a conveyance of 5 Aug 1836 by Thomas Philip, Earl de Grey to the curate and trustees on a piece of ground adjoining the road from Shefford containing 10 poles on which the schoolhouse was to be built "…for the purpose of educating boys, being children of the poorer classes of the inhabitants in Clophill and neighbourhood, in the principles of the United Church of England and Ireland upon such a system as the patron, rector and curate shall appoint". The parish records also contain plans and elevations of the new school [P45/29/3]. A report was compiled by the School Inspector on Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire church schools in 1844 and he reported that Clophill school "taught 3 days in the week chiefly by the Clergyman".
The next national enquiry was in 1846/7 when the Church of England made an enquiry as to all its church schools. This was against the background of a new Whig government which championed secular education and the increasing importance of nonconformists, particularly Wesleyan Methodist, and Roman Catholics in providing schools. The parson reported that there was a Sunday school with 100 boys and 100 girls. A Daily school taught writing and was attended by 24 boys and 36 girls. There were four Daily Dames’ schools which taught 40 boys and 24 girls. The return recorded that: ‘The want here is not so much of masters to teach, as of good will in the parents in sending their children to school for instruction. The parents send them to work at straw-plaiting at an early age. The schools are chiefly supported by Lady de Grey and the Rector.’
The first Education Act was passed in 1870 (more correctly it was known as the Elementary Education Act). It was a milestone in the provision of education in Britain demonstrating central government's unequivocal support for education of all classes across the country. It also sought to secularise education by allowing the creation of School Boards. These were groups of representatives, elected by the local ratepayers and the Board had the powers to raise funds to form a local rate to support local education, build and run schools, pay the fees of the poorest children, make local school attendance compulsory between the ages of 5 and 13 and could even support local church schools, though in practice they replaced them, turning them into Board run schools (known as Board Schools). Naturally, and luckily for local historians, the Act required a questionnaire of local schools in 1870. In Clophill it was felt that no efficient school existed in Clophill; accommodation was needed for 140 boys and 92 infants. In the return there were details of a proposed scheme for building schools in Clophill for 250 children which would provide all the accommodation required. The parish records contain a conveyance [P45/25/22] of 4 May 1871 from the rector, with consent of the bishop and patron of the living, to trustees of 1 rood 20 poles adjoining the rectory garden for school buildings to be erected upon as well as plans and elevations [P45/29/23-24]. Clophill National School was opened by a short service on Friday 5th January 1872. after the service there was a service in Church and a sermon was preached on behalf of the school by the Rev Hugh Ross, the collection amounting to £7 15s 6d. [Micf 38/15]
Children often missed school because they were needed to help at home or with work as these extracts from the school logbooks show [Micf 38/15]: 23rd June 1893: "some children have been irregular [this week] owing to their mothers going out and gathering peas or fruit and the children kept at home to mind the house and baby";6th October 1879: "owing to the harvest being so backward this year another week’s holiday was given to enable the children to go gleaning". There were treats too: 6th April 1894: "yesterday the children of both Departments had tea together. In the evening the Rev G Bosanquet exhibited a magic lantern much to the amusement of the children" [Micf 38/15].
The school had good inspection reports such as this one from 28th October 1879: "Singing good. Tone good. Considering the unusual length and lateness of the harvest holidays the exam was extremely good, and there is everywhere evidence of care and hard work". Children paid fees until the introduction of the Fee Grant in 1891. Before then they were sent by parents who often felt they could not afford it, sometimes children took the money and teachers were faced with the task of collecting it. 4th January 1886: "Sent E Grummitt home for his school money but he did not return. Therefore I cancelled his attendance".
Schoolchildren about 1900
Twentieth Century Education in Clophill
A land mark Education Act was passed in 1902, coming into effect in 1903. It disbanded the School Boards and gave day to day running of education to newly formed Local Education Authorities, usually the county council, as in Bedfordshire. The old Board Schools thus became Council Schools whilst the old National, British and other non-Board schools became known as Public Elementary Schools. Clophill duly became a Public Elementary School.
Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a scrapbook of Inspector's reports for most Bedfordshire schools [E/IN1/1] for a period from just before World War One through the inter-war years. The inspectors reported separately on the infants and the junior mixed departments of the school. Thus in 1911 the infants department was reported to show "something of an improvement. The lowest class is brightly and well taught under great disadvantage owing to deficiency of floorspace". However, two years later the Inspector reported "The condition of the Infants' School is far from satisfactory. The Teaching is lacking in both intelligence and thoroughness: order is poor, prompting is extremely prevalent, and the children quite fail to make adequate progress. These remarks, however, do not apply to the lowest class. A very marked improvement will be looked for next year if the School is to be considered efficient". By 1921 it was reported "This School has greatly improved since the present Head Teacher took charge. The children are alert and interested in their work and the general condition of the School is now satisfactory. As good methods are used, further progress is likely".
The Inspector at the junior mixed school in 1911 found it "in good order and continues to be taught with considerable success". By 1913 things were rather less rosy, at least amongst the younger children, probably as a result of the problems with the Infants School. This is borne out by the remarks of 1919 that "Considering that the children are in an extremely backward condition when admitted to this Department, a great deal of credit is due to the teacher of the lowest class for the progress they make while in her charge". The fruit garden attached to the school was considerably neglected and the Inspector considered that tending it should form part of School Gardening curriculum. The Inspector in 1923 reported that the Head Teacher was just about to retire, he felt that there was much about the school that was good but that certain weak points needed addressing "If the Head Teacher succeeds in putting these matters right he will leave the School in a very creditable condition".
The inspection of 1924 was confined to the premises and the numerous problems, perhaps most striking of which were, as usual, sanitary arrangements: "There are 44 girls and 54 infants at present. There is one door leading to four seats, not decently separated for both sexes. These were, apart from this, offensive on the day of the visit. There was no earth provided and the lighting and ventilation were not good. The boys' urinal is badly shaped and inadequate. They have three seats not in separate compartments: and otherwise bad. There is no provision at all for Teachers though there are five women assistants. The children's arrangements are so disgusting and so lacking in privacy that these Teachers cannot be expected to use them".
St.Mary's VA Lower School 1994 prospectus [E/Pu4/4/119]
In 1925 it was reported: "The new Head Teacher's first year at this school has been attended by unfortunate circumstances. One member of Staff has been absent five or six months, another two months, and a third one month". It does not state whether the toilets were to blame. Despite this the school was doing well with P.E. quite the best in the area.
In 1927 the school and schoolhouse were valued under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act when the schoolhouse was reported as a brick and slate semi-detached house with a parlour, living room, kitchen, scullery and pantry downstairs and four bedrooms (one small) upstairs; outside were a barn and washhouse, earth closet, coal barn and garage. The school was noted as built for 233 with an average attendance in 1926 of 142 and 139 in 1927, outside it had a drying shed, coal shed, boys' and girls' lavatories and a wood shed.
In 1928 the Inspector opined that "This is a very good Country School, conducted in inferior premises, on sound, and usually, progressive lines". By 1933 the headship has changed and it was reported of the new head "…although in some ways his general control could be tightened up somewhat, it is clear that he is anxious to make a success of his job". In 1938 The Inspector recorded that the day of the inspection was "unpropitious, as the children who were to have been moved to a new Senior School were all present because the new building was incomplete…In these circumstances the work…did not show up very well: but on previous occasions, and in the Term tests which have been preserved, much was found that was very praiseworthy, especially when the cramped conditions of the two small rooms are taken into consideration".
The third of the great Education Acts was that of 1944 which established the principle of County Primary Schools for children up to the age of 11, at which time they took an examination to determine the nature of the secondary school they would attend until they were 15, the most academically able going to grammar schools, the rest to secondary or secondary modern schools. The act also created two types of successor to the public elementary schools - the Voluntary Aided and Voluntary Controlled schools. Voluntary Aided schools are those in which the Local Education Authority funds the school but the governing body is independent, they are usually Anglican or Roman Catholic schools. Voluntary Controlled schools own their own buildings whilst the staff are employed directly by the governors. Clophill became a Voluntary Controlled County Primary School.
Clophill VC Lower School in March 2007
In the 1970s Bedfordshire County Council introduced comprehensive education, doing away with the 11+ examination and grammar schools and introducing a tier of school between the old County Primary and County Secondary Schools. Thus Lower Schools now taught children aged 4 to 9, Middle Schools from 9 to 13 and Upper Schools from 13 onwards. Clophill became a Voluntary Controlled Lower School for pupils aged 5 to 9 in 1975 and moved to a new building in 1976 in the High Street.
Sources
- P45/29/1: gift of site for school: 1630;
- P45/1/4: parish happenings, including school references: 1799-1853;
- P45/29/3: plans and elevations of school: c.1836;
- P45/29/2: conveyance of site for school: 1836;
- P45/1/28: references to school in service register: 1841-1960;
- P45/0/19: list of parishioners' children attending school: 1847-1859;
- P45/0/20: index and lists of parishioners' children attending school: 1860-1881;
- P45/29/22-26: building of new school: 1871-1872;
- Micf38/15: school logbooks: 1872-1956;
- Z145/92: inspector's report on National School: 1876;
- P45/29/27-41: minutes of parish school committee etc.: 1889-1959;
- Z50/31/33: postcard of village showing school: c.1900;
- Z50/31/59: postcard of school: c.1900;
- E/SA3/1/2: managers' and inspector's reports: 1903;
- P45/29/11: three letters on school: 1903-1929;
- P45/29/21: use of old school room: 1903-1929;
- P45/29/28: school managers' minute book: 1903-1953;
- E/TE5/3: details of teachers: 1904-1908;
- P45/25/20: Poor's Estate Educational Foundation printed scheme: 1905;
- P45/25/21: conveyence of land for use of school if desired, or for teacher's house: 1906;
- E/TE5/4: details of teachers: 1908-1912;
- Z50/31/90-91: photograph of schoolchildren: 1909;
- E/IN1/1: inspector's reports: 1911-1928;
- P45/29/30: school managers' account book: 1917-1960;
- Z50/31/60: postcard of school: c.1920;
- Z50/142/292: photograph of schoolchildren in cricket gear: c.1920s;
- CCE1523-1524: title deeds: 1920-1996;
- Z50/142/291: photograph of senior children: 1929;
- P45/2/11: conveyance of part of school gardens: 1930;
- P45/29/38: administration file: 1947-c.1957;
- CA2/13: contract for additional land for school: 1958-1966;
- CA2/228: right of way to playing field: 1966;
- CA8/1089: building maintenance file: 1966-1980;
- CA8/724: building maintenance file: 1967-1975;
- CA2/659: site for new lower school: 1968-1972;
- PCClophill26/2: Booklet
Stop Clophill School: 1969;
- AO/C9/11: extension of school site: 1971;
- CCE3012: title deeds to playing field: 1971-1996;
- CA2/922: Phase II building file: 1974-1982;
- PCClophill26/1: correspondence regarding school rebuilding: 1975-1977;
- E/TE3/4: return of teaching staff: 1981;
- E/TE3/7: return of teaching staff: 1986;
- E/MS3/2/2: kitchen and other details: c.1987;
- P45/29/42: Charity Commission Order vesting school site in St.Albans Diocesan Board of Finance: 1992;
- E/Pu4/4/119: prospectus: 1995