State Schools in Kempston

Boys at Up End  in 1895 [Z50/67/11a]

1870-1903

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. The questionnaire for Kempston noted the first schools built in the urban part of the ancient parish of Kempston - a Church of England Mixed School at Up End for 55 children and Up End National Infants' School in St.John Street for 135 children. Both of these were built in 1865 and the report noted "In course of being supplied: Enlargement of Kempston Church of England Mixed School at Upend. Accommodation for 122 children". Unfortunately this estimate was grossly short of what was required and a notice appeared in the Bedfordshire Mercury in 1875 stating that unless schools for 400 children were provided within six months a School Board would be formed for the parish to drive the building programme forward. A School Board was duly formed on 18 Feb 1876.

For the first twelve years the Kempston school board had been ineffective in dealing with the problems of a growing and changing district.  Improvements occurred when the right people were elected: "Across the river from Bedford lies the important village or suburb of Kempston.  Two years ago it was, so far as education is concerned, almost the most backward place in my district.  Since then a large new infants’ school has been erected, existing premises have been improved, and additional teachers and apparatus procured.  Considerable progress has already been made, and the outlook is most hopeful.  To Mr Edwin Ransom, of Bedford, the energetic chairman of a new board, belongs the credit for these improvements". [Mr Synge’s General Report for the Eastern Division for 1890 quoted in BHRS Volume 67 The Bedfordshire School Child edited by David Bushby]

The former Up End Church of England Mixed, Board Mixed after 1876, was made into a Board School for boys only in 1896, the girls being sent to a new school in Bedford Road. The National Infants also became a Board School in 1876 and also moved to Bedford Road, to premises adjoining the girls' school.

1902-1944

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. The boys' school at Up End and the girls' and infants' schools at Bedford Road duly became Council Schools.

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a scrapbook of cuttings of visits made to most Bedfordshire Schools by School Inspectors for a period from just before the First World War through the inter-war years [E/IN1/1]. The first batch of reports covers Kempston Council Boys at Up End, Girls at Bedford Road and Infants (also at Bedford Road).

 
Plan of Up End School [AD3865/23/1]

 Up End Council Infants' School

The first recorded inspection of Up End Council Infants School was in 1910 when the inspector was concerned at overcrowding, despite which "good work is done throughout and the order is praiseworthy". At the next recorded inspection in 1914, average attendance 283, an enlagrement of the premises was noted which led to marked improvements and the schoo lwas marked by "good order and efficiency" though "In one or two of the classes the children are perhaps a little too restrained, and the teaching does not make quite enough demand on their individual activities. But except for this, the work is carried on on very satisfactory lines". In 1919 the school was described as short staffed, though the school was generally good, however: "The teaching would be much facilitated were the children trained to be more self-dependent. Simultaneous work prevails, even sing-song repetition prevailed till recently, and simultaneous answering has not been entirely suppressed. Too much help is given the children, too much suggestion, and the teachers are apt to intervene unnecessarily, so that little opportunity is given for self-expression, or to self-reliance and the quiet absorption of the children in their individual tasks". This report elicited a letter from the Headmistress to the Schools Sub-Committee and the report for 1920 was brief: "The points to which allusion was made in the last Report have received attention, and the school is now in a decidedly satisfactory condition". The final report in the book, for 1925, bemoans the lack of staff and the poor attendance due to mumps (just like that at the boys' and girls' schools) but noted that a reorganisation by the Headmistress "will enable lost ground to be recovered quickly".

End elevation of Up End School [AD3865/23/2]

 Up End Council Boys' School

Up End Council Boys' School was visited in 1911, when average attendance was 278 and the inspector found it to be "admirably organised, ordered and taught and both tone and discipline are most praiseworthy. The supervision of the Head Teacher [is thorough and helpful and a high level of efficiency is reached in all Classes". The next recorded inspection was not until 1923 when the inspector noted: "It is a very considerable time since a Report was made on the work of this school. In the interval the school has been inspected on numerous occasions, and has always been found to be in good order. The teaching is well considered and thorough, and at present…is better than it has been since the war". In 1925 the inspector noted a serious outbreak of mumps had occurred leading to attendance below 60% at times. The next year a satisfactory report on the garden was made, the last report before the boys were rejoined by girls and infants in 1928.

North elevation of Bedford Road Council Girls' School [UDKP300]

 Bedford Road Council Girls' School

The first recorded inspection for Bedford Road Girls' School in the scrapbook was also in 1911 when average was 255. "Order and tone are very praiseworthy. The instruction is, in all the classes, characterised by care and intelligence and the condition of the School reflects credit upon the Head Mistress [Miss Hannah Dakin] and her conscientious and hard-working Assistants".. In 1914 the story was similar, but with a caveat: "The Head Teacher and her Staff all devote themselves heartily to the work of the School and a very fair standard of attainment is reached by the older children. To secue further progress the Girls should be led to depend more on themselves and concentrate their attention better on their work". The final visit before boys rejoined the girls at the school in 1928 was in 1925 when it was noted that, like the boys' school at Up End, attendance had been poor due to an outbreak of mumps, the inspector noted: "The…work of the School is, at least under the circumstances, very creditable, and calls for no particular remark. Indiscriminate calling out of answers still lingers in certain lessons: it is desirable that it should not be permitted at all".

 Up End Council Junior Mixed and Infants School

In 1928 the boys' school at Up End and the girls' school at Bedford Road began taking children of the opposite sex, both becoming Junior Mixed & Infants Schools. Two inspection reports are preserved in the scrapbook for each school. The first of the reports from Up End was in 1932, when average attendance was 185,  at which time the school had five classes of which two were for infants, he noted that children "from the Public Assistance Committee's "Children's Home" attend this school. Many of these are subnormal, either physically or mentally, and the asmission register shows that many of them are birds of passage". He went on "The Head Mistress [Miss Bentley] has many interruptions for the heavy routine work of medical and dental inspections and following up visits, as well as the visits of unemployed and pensioners for certificates that their children are in fact at school". Both classes of infants were "taught carefully and the children make progress". Overall "the chldren showed keenness, the result of systematic and careful work of the staff, and they were orderly and well behaved. The girls particularly spoke nicely". The second inspection was in 1937 and it noted: "There has been no change in the character of this school since the last report. there are 230 children on the books with a Head Teacher and four Assistants, two of whom are Uncertified. There are two classes with 50 on the registers and the Head Teacher is in charge of one of them. There is no hall, the playground is small and the heating of the classrooms inadequate." Despite all this "The standard attained in the fundamental subjects is generally satisfactory. It would, however, be well to consider more modern methods of approach, particularly to such subjects as Number and Reading". Finally he added: "The discipline is kindly and the children are happy and well-behaved". Interestingly there is a marginal note written in pencil "Write Miss Bentley letter of encouragement and confidence in her".

 Bedford Road Council Junior Mixed and Infants School

The first of the reports on Bedford Road School is also dated 1932, when average attendance was 227, and notes that the Head Mistress was appointed in 1928 when the school became a mixed and infants school for children up to the age of eleven . The school shared the same site as the newly opened Kempston Senior Mixed School. The inspector noted: "It is well conducted" and concluded: "The cheerful attitude of the Head Mistress, her Staff and the children to their work is a great factor in its success. The behaviour of the scholars is very good". The second report dates from 1939, by which time local housing developments had pushed up the number of children by an additional 27, making class sizes, already a concern in 1932, even larger. The inspector stated: "It is because of the untiring efforts of the Head Mistress, who, herself, takes entire charge of the large class, and of the devoted service rendered by her staff that the standards of work and behaviour throughout the school are so creditable". A marginal note in pencil simply reads: "Congratulations".

 Kempston Senior Mixed School 1928

Kempston Senior Mixed School opened in Bedford Road in 1928, using part of the former Bedford Road Council Girls' School premises. The site was shared with Bedford Road Junior Mixed School. The scrapbook has one report for this school, made in 1931, three years after opening, it noted: "It has had a change of Head Master and has experienced many changes in the assistant staff, six of the seven teachers having been appointed within the last year. It is conducted in the premises that were formerly the Girls' Department. Two rooms taken from the old Infants' Department serve as practical rooms for Woodwork and Cookery and these rooms are rather small for the purpose, as is the recently converted room in the main building for Science. The practical rooms are used for the dinners, excellent in menu and variety, but congested in service. There is no Hall, and accommodation for the Staff is limited".

"Originally drawing from three tributary schools, now there are contributory schools in villages some three or four miles away. Owing to the change of school year in the county, sixty four children were admitted in April and a further 83 in September of this year, with the result that at present the school is unbalanced, practically half of the children being classified as first year scholars. Of these a class of thirty four are definitely sub-normal either mentally or physically".

"The Head Master has drawn up schemes excellent in themselves, but more suitable, in certain respects, for a well established school almost of a selective central type. At the moment they are more ambitious than can honestly be justified either by the foundations on which he has to build or by the continuity of training which has been possible owing to changes in staff, curriculum and school year".

"At this visit certain weaknesses were found which were discussed with the Head Master. That these were due to the varying degrees of attainment reached by the children when they entered the school seems to be proved by the fact that, when the work of the children who have been continuously under his guidance for the full three years is seen and examined, there is abundant evidence that they have benefited very materially".

"A word of appreciation should also be added for the success of the school in sport, for the generous loan of the ground which they may use for all games and sports and for the part which the staff play in this side of the school life".

1944-1969

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.

 
Interior of The Grange on completion [PY/PH6/2]

In this period Kempston saw a number of new schools built and old schools change name or function:
- Up End Council Mixed School became Up End County Primary Junior School, changing to a County Primary Infants' School, for 4 to 7 year olds, in 1953; the school burned down in 1975
- Bedford Road Council Mixed School became Bedford Road County Primary Junior School;
- Kempston Senior Council School became Kempston County Secondary Modern;
- Balliol County Primary school opened in the early 1950s to serve the new estate around it;
- The Grange Educationally Sub Normal School was built in Halsey Road the early 1960s;
- Springfield County Primary School opened in Orchard Street in the late 1960s;

 
Ridgeway School on completion [PY/PH53/1]

From 1970

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. At this time the following changes occurred, to give us the schools we have today: 
- Up End County Primary Infants' School was not rebuilt after it burned down in 1975;
- Bedford Road County Primary Junior School became Bedford Road Lower School;
- Kempston County Secondary Modern became Robert Bruce Middle School;
- Balliol County Primary School became Balliol Lower School;
- The Grange Educationally Sub Normal School was renamed The Grange Special School and caters for children with moderate learning difficulties;
- Springfield County Primary School became Springfield Lower School;
- Camestone Lower School was built in Jowitt Avenue as a replacement for Up End School and opened in 1977;
- Daubeney Middle School opened in 1972 in Orchard Street on the same campus site as Springfield Lower School;
- Grey's House Special School for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties opened in 1975 in Manor Drive, closing as a school at the turn of the millennium, now being an education centre with a pupil referral unit;
- Hastingsbury Upper School opened in Hill Rise in 1970;
- Ridgeway Special School for children with physical and complex disabilities opened on the Hastingsbury site in 1974;
- Saint John's Special School for children with severe learning difficulties opened in Austin Canons in the 1970s.

Hastingsbury on completion [PY/PH52/1]

In 2007 a Surestart Children's Centre, managed by Spurgeons to support parents of children aged 0-5 was built in Hillgrounds Road, just behind Bedford Road Lower School. The local pre-school also moved into the building. A close working relationship between the school and the team based at the centre is expected.

New Surestart building behind Bedford Road Lower School October 2007