Education In Ridgmont
Early Education in Ridgmont
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. It was reported to the Bishop in 1717 that the only education in Ridgmont came from a widow who taught a few children to read. Three years later it was recorded that parents sent their children to nearby schools so that they might be instructed in the Christian faith.
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 formed 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. For Ridgmont it was recorded that there was a Church of England Sunday school supported by voluntary contributions which taught 15 boys and 5 girls; there was also a Dissenters Sunday school which took 122 boys and 17 girls. A boarding school was kept by a dissenter but not attended by the poorer classes. The Rector, Edward Tanqueray recorded that "the poor are very desirous of the means of education". It is worth noting that these Sunday Schools were just that, School provided on a Sunday and would have taught reading and writing and, perhaps, other subjects, in addition to the religious knowledge for which Sunday Schools are reserved today.
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 Ridgmont it was recorded that there was one Daily School (started in1831) which taught 33 boys and 10 girls whose parents paid for their lessons. There were now two Sunday schools – one, the Anglican, begun in 1833 and supported by the clergyman, took 28 boys and 22 girls; the other taught 80 boys, and 115 girls and was supported by subscription from the Baptists and had a lending library attached; evidence [X347/2] suggests this began in 1816. The nature of the daily school, whether Anglican, nonconformist or neither, is unclear
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 return states that the church ran a Sunday school and a Daily School which taught 30 boys and 22 girls.
Ridgmont Wesleyan or British School
Samuel Bennet was a member of a noted Wesleyan family, who farmed in Ridgmont in the 1840s to the early 1850s. He was self educated and aware of the importance of elementary education so he became the founder and patron of a Wesleyan day school for boys which flourished during his lifetime but declined after his death and was closed in the mid 1860s. It is unclear whether this was a formally affiliated British School or not but the first mention is in 1846 when the Duke of Bedford was invited to contribute [R3/5051 and 5107]. A report by J.D.Morell on British and Wesleyan schools in 1849 noted that Ridgmont was run by the Wesleyan church and catered for 52 children: "The school is situated in a village where education was deeply needed, and it has been attended hitherto with decided success. The school-room is small but more than filled. The children are of a somewhat miscellaneous description, many of them of an age rather fit for an infant school. The master has been working very diligently, and the pupil teachers, one of whom is now recommended, have rendered very essential service. The reading and arithmetic are fair; grammar and geography quite elementary. Some knowledge of history and other useful subjects is also conveyed in collective lessons. As a village school it is very satisfactory". By 1851 the number of boys had risen to 78 which was about the limit the room could accommodate. It had improved significantly since 1849: "The mental intelligence generally is very strikingly advanced". By 1853 the numbers had climbed still further to 85: "Discipline good. Instruction fair. The master has his school in an excellent state, on the whole. The infants in this mixed school are nicely managed by the pupil teachers, but female management is much needed for them".
Ridgmont School around 1900 [Z50/95/29]
Ridgmont National School, later Board School
Clearly the Church of England felt it could not let the Methodists dominate local education and in 1854 Ridgmont Church of England School was opened; it was stated, in the return under the 1870 Education Act, that it could accommodate 110 children. It was felt that Ridgmont needed a school that could take 70 infants, which should be situated near the Church of England school.
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). In 1878 the Ridgmont School Board was formed. Among other things they decided that religious instruction should take the form of a short Collect and the Lord’s Prayer, and Bible instruction. An Infant school met in the Baptist Church between 1871 and 1878 while the Duke of Bedford was rebuilding the school at what became the new Ridgmont School Board premises. Clearly it was felt that the inhabitants did not value the new school as a letter of 1884 in the Duke's estate correspondence [R4/938] states it was "the dirtiest…and most uncared for appearance of any school…"
20th Century Education in Ridgmont
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 new Local Education Authority, the Education Committee of Bedfordshire County Council, consisted of fifteen one of whom, Rev.W.Baker had been the chairman of Ridgmont School Board. This school was henceforth known as Ridgmont Council School. Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a scrapbook of reports on most of the county's schools made by the School Inspector for a period from just before the First World War through the inter-war years [E/IN1/1].
In 1911 the Inspector noted: "Order and tone are very praiseworthy and a very creditable standard of efficiency is reached…" Two years later he reported that: "This is a thoroughly good village School". Inspections did not occur during the First World War but the logbook shows how pupils did their bit for the war effort. On October 18th 1918 " a small jumble sale was held immediately after school by the scholars & teachers; the parents & people of the village came and bought the things & the little bazaar was well attended; the proceeds will be expended on wool etc for the children’s war knitting and soldier’s comforts". [SDRidgmont1].
In 1921 and 1922 the Inspector found: "This School is as it was when the last report was submitted, a very good village School", average attendance was 72. In 1925 the report was even more glowing: "The new Head Teacher is doing thoroughly good work. The appeal to the individual child is much stronger than formerly, and exceptional attention is given to expression, both oral and written. There is every prospect of sound progress. The order and tone leave nothing to be desired". In 1929 the headmistress was ill: "…but work seen and heard shows clearly that she is obtaining a very good standard of work. the children are unusually responsive…"
By the next report in 1931 things had changed, the school becoming a Junior School: "The choice of the Head Teacher was very happy; she has made out good schemes of work, and obtained very satisfactory results from a class of children who have always proved responsive at visits of inspection". The 1934 continues the upbeat theme present ever since 1911: "This is a very good Junior School" it went on, touchingly: "…visiting Inspectors were much impressed by the [needle]work done by a child who is practically blind; and in the books the progress made by this girl and her brother, who is equally afflicted, reflects the greatest credit on the patient kindness and skill of the Head Mistress". The final report, for May 1938, noted that since January 45 children had been admitted, bringing the roll up to 82, though 6 had left in the same period: "The growth is due to a development of Housing at Brogborough, largely no doubt because of the new brickworks: the children come mainly from Peterborough; Newcastle; South Wales; and other Bedfordshire villages".
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. Following the act, in 1946, Ridgmont school became a County Primary School. Meanwhile, pupils must have enjoyed celebrating VE Day at the end of World War Two as the logbook entry for May 11th reads: ‘"school reopened this morning with a very poor attendance, after the National Holiday and Peace Celebrations" [SDRidgmont 1].
Ridgmont Lower School 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. Ridgmont duly became a Lower School which it remains to this day, still in the 19th century school building set back from the High Street.
Sources
Church/Board/Council/County Primary/Lower School
- CRT130RID8: Life in Ridgmont 1900-1925 and after;
- RD/AB/A0: return to deanery including educational provision: 1848;
- X347/3: mention of infants' school held in vestry of Baptist church while school being rebuilt: 1871-1878;
- R4/794: infants' school cash book: 1871-1879;
- E/SA3/1/1: tabulated return of pupils under Factory & Workshop Act 1878: 1879;
- CCE/SB34/1: copy lease from Duke of Bedford to School Board: 1879;
- SB34/1-2: School Board minutes: 1878-1903;
- SB34/3: School Board financial statements: 1878-1903;
- SB34/4-5: School Board cash books: 1878-1903;
- R4/938: "the dirtiest...and most uncared for appearance of any school...": 1884;
- Z50/142/178: photograph of school group: early 20th century;
- SB34/6: School Board clerks' report to LEA: 1903;
- E/TE5/1: details of teachers: 1904-1908;
- E/TE5/2: details of teachers: 1908-1912;
- E/IN1/1: inspector's reports: 1911-1938;
- Z50/142/177: photograph of school: 1915;
- SDRidgmont1-2: school logbooks: 1918-1974;
- CCA9/7: correspondence regarding renewal of Bedford estates lease on school: 1947-1949;
- CCA9/9: correspondence of water supply agreement: 1952-1970;
- CA8731: extensions to school: 1966-1982;
- E/TE3/3: return of teaching staff: 1981;
- E/SC1/Gen5-6: details of school: 1981;
- E/TE2/2/L64: details of school: 1985-1986;
- E/TE3/6: return of teaching staff: 1986;
- E/MS3/2/7: kitchen and other details: c.1987;
- E/Pu4/4/129: prospectus: 1995
Baptist/Wesleyan/British School
- X347/2: Baptist minister keeping school at his house: 1816;
- R3/5051: suggestion Duke of Bedford give £10 for first year then £7 per annum to school: 1846;
- R3/5107: great need of school accommodation: 1846;
- Z840/1/5: details of buns provided for school tea: 1857-1860;
- X347/3: mention of British School: 1864