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The History of Welford and Wickham School

Our School in 1922

Our school in 1922

Headteachers

Although the present Wickham school was not built until 1854, it seems that before 1847 there was a 'National School' in Wickham, either on or near the present site.

The National Schools were developed to provide some education for the poorer children of the towns and villages throughout the country. In 1811, the Rev. Andrew Bell (a one time Army Chaplain in India) brought back to England a system he had tried in India. He had effectively used the brighter and more able children to help teach the younger pupils. This became known as the 'Monitorial System' and was used for some years in England.

In the same year he founded the 'National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the principals of the Established Church - the Church of England. These schools he founded became known as 'The National Schools'.

Our Original School Plans

Plan of Our School

In 1854 the present school was built on a piece of land about 1/2 an acre in area, donated for the sole use of a school to educate children from the Parish of Welford, and Mr. William Baker was the first Schoolmaster. The land was given by Charles Eyre Esq., J.P. of Welford Park, and the deed granting the land was dated 25th September, 1857.

The land was conveyed to the Rector and Churchwardens of the Parish of Welford and their successors, "to be forever hereafter used as a school for the poorer classes of the Parish and no other purpose".

The school building, funds and endowments were to be managed by a committee consisting of the Rector, his curates, churchwardens and three other persons (members of the C. Of E.) In 1857 these were the Rev. Nicholson, Rev. William Dickson, Charles Eyre Esq., John Goddard a farmer from Easton and James Palmer from Weston Farm, and any other person contributing 20 shillings to the school fund.

The school was built to accommodate 159 children who came from a wide area, including Clapton and Elcot who must have walked nearly 6 miles a day. The ages ranged from 4 years to 12/13 years. Boys tended to start work between 12 and 13 and the girls a year later.

In 1863, Mr. Peter Wager became Schoolmaster and Clerk of the Parish Council.

In 1869, Mr. James Gilkes and his wife Martha were in charge as Master and Mistress with 2 or 3 Monitorial assistants (14 year olds). They looked after the educational needs of 185 pupils. Religious education would have been given by the Rector or his Curate, who at that time was the Rev. John Nicolson, William's brother.

The first log book, that runs from 1864 to 1882 tells us that attendance at the school was erratic. Between 180 - 140 children were on the register, but attendance often dropped to around 60 and even lower when the children were required by their parents to help with haymaking or to look after the pigs, collect acorns or chestnuts. It was poignant to read of the children being kept away from school during the winter period to pull turnips or to dig potatoes. The parents pleaded poverty, saying that they must harvest when they can. Summer holiday was referred to as Harvest holiday and was timed to suit the reaping of the crop. The holiday was supposed to last 5 weeks, but if the gathering of the harvest was delayed for any reason such as bad weather, then very few children would turn up to school at the beginning of the Winter term.

1881 was a year of exceptionally heavy snowfall and James and Martha Gilkes were still heads of the school, this being their 14th year. They were assisted by an Infant Governess - Miss Isabella Cruse aged 20 and an assistant teacher Mary Cruse aged 16. They were sisters and were related to Philip Henry Cruse who was Headmaster from 1892 - 1909.

In 1909, Owen P. Attewell took over as Headmaster and was helped by Miss Smith. 1909 was also the year that Rev. Stephen Batson died. In 1915 Owen Attwell joined the Army and was one of the lucky survivors of World War 1. Starting as a Sergeant he rose to the rank of Major having distinguished himself on the battlefield. He returned to Wickham school in 1919 and was there until 1921.

The post of Headmaster was taken over by Arthur Allan Penwill, assisted by Miss M. Gosling and Miss Lee until 1929.

Class B28 - 1922

Class B28 - 1922

1926

Allan Penwill in 1926

Arthur Allan Penwill and Staff

Staff in 1926
Doris Elms Miss Lee
Mabel Clark Miss Gosling

Members of Staff

A 'Punishment Book' was introduced to the school in 1922 with the last entry in 1951. This book recorded the date, name, offence and punishment given out to recalcitrant children. The old adage, 'spare the rod and spoil the child' was commonly adhered to in those days. The principal reason for 'getting the cane', was bad behaviour, talking in class and inattentiveness. It was the boys who received the most. Some names kept coming up, over and over again. They obviously did not find the punishment sufficiently chastening. Here are a few examples of offending behaviour which resulted in a canning:

  • Using a pea-shooter in the school.
  • Rude noises.
  • Toasting bread on the stove using a ruler.
  • Stabbing a pen into the floor.
  • Playing with, and wasting the water supply. Water was a rare commodity in those days. One boy received an extra stroke for this offence when he laughed after receiving the first.
  • Flicking boys' ears with elastic.
  • Writing a rude note.
  • Using a certain remark.

Although this seems like a lot of punishments the cane was only administered about once a month.

From 1929 - 33 the school was run by Donald Paradise. The Rev. Charles Hardy would regularly visit the school two or three times a week to oversee the Religious Education and take prayers.

On the 3rd April 1933, Stanley Basil Appleton - known affectionately as Basil, took up his appointment as Headmaster until his retirement on April 13th 1965. In accordance with past practice he was given the job of Clerk to the Welford Parish Council, a position which he held for 52 years. During his 32 years at the school tremendous changes took place. In the early days before the War the school roll was about 80 pupils and meticulous records were maintained about school attendance. These were painstakingly calculated and expressed as percentages - outbreaks of Chickenpox, Whooping Cough, Mumps or Measles - severe weather conditions - snow, frost and heavy rain brought these figures down dramatically. The school log book of the time does not tell us much about the achievements of the children, but there seemed to be an increasing bias towards rural activities rather than high attainment in the academic field.

There was no piped water supply to the village at that time - every morning water had to be collected in enamel buckets from 'the village tap'. This water came from a spring in the field above the Newbury road, the spring was channelled into a storage tank from which there were two pipes - one to service the village and the other to the Rectory (Wickham House). The Rectory pipe was below the village pipe so that when water was short the village supply dried up first.

The following report by a Schools Inspector on the 16th June 1936 is interesting.

'The Headmaster, who began his first headship here three years ago, maintains the school at a steady, if somewhat limited level of efficiency. His own class, one third of whom are migrant children, did very well at tests set in arithmetic and composition, and his supervision of their bookwork is thorough. He has lately introduced bee-keeping as a subject of instruction with an observation hive, and continues the gardening. Nature study with emphasis upon flower classification and animal life is well done.
In English the children have a fair knowledge of books and their authors. For Drawing, too much time has been given to free expression, and a more systematic course including scale and geometric work is needed. The importance of mapping is overlooked.
No provision is made for practical instruction in Handicraft or domestic subjects. The two Assistant Teachers, (Miss Gosling and Miss Clark), have taught in this school for many years. Both are doing excellent work with the fundamental subjects, and it is no reflection upon their ability or thoroughness to suggest that refresher visits to other schools would enable them to gain new ideas on the treatment of the less formal subjects.
The school suffers from two serious drawbacks. There is no water supply, and while drinking water is brought in buckets from a distance, the lack of washing facilities for the many children who remain for the midday meal, has an adverse effect upon the afternoon's lessons in needlework and drawing. Garments and books are soiled, and this in the former case, leads to a preponderance of knitting. The rough nature of the playground surface is detrimental to the proper performance of playground exercises.'

Three years later on November 6th 1939 piped water was installed in the school. In the same year the school was connected to the electricity supply. The village sewerage system however, did not arrive until long after the war, in 1965. Until that time, the schoolchildren had to use dirt buckets for toilets.

Basil Appleton and Pupils circa 1960

Basil Appleton and Pupils

Basil remained Headmaster of the school until 1965 when he retired aged 60. He then took holy orders and continued to serve the community as assistant Rector until his death in 1990.

History Book See also the History of the Parish of Welford

Excerpt from the historical chronicles of Alan Garvey, © 1996

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