School Life

 

Attendance

 

At the 1891 census the total population of the parish was 320, down from 389 in 1881. Despite this there were 114 children at the school, 25 of whom lived outside the boundary (remembering that at this time North Street and Mayridge were outside the boundary), leaving 89 children from the parish, considerably more than the one fifth of the population that the government expected the school to provide for. These numbers certainly explain the fact that as well as the headteacher the school always had at least two assistant teachers in addition to the monitors.

 

In 1891 when there were 114 children at the school the capacity was 120. The attendance registers for the years up to 1901 were all lost when the Soup Kitchen burnt down in that year but in 1908 the capacity was 120 in the mixed class plus another 37 infants - something of a squeeze and certainly not enough room for modern teaching methods. While the numbers in the mixed class remained fairly constant at around 55 through the decade, the number of infants suffered a decline from 30 in 1904 to only 18 in 1907. This pattern was repeated between 1924 and 1934 with a fairly steady average of 40 in the mixed class but declining numbers in the infants, from 12 in 1924 down to only nine in 1934 despite a sudden peak of 23 in 1927. Through the second half of the 1930s the numbers in both groups declined, down to 28 mixed and 6 infants by the start of the Second World War. At the end of the War the senior numbers had declined further to 19 but the infants numbers had risen to the same figure. The 1950s saw another steady decline in numbers from 37 in the year Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne down to just 12 at the end of the decade, after the opening of Willink School. The long term trend in numbers probably reflects the national trend for smaller families with the sudden fluctuations the result of estate workers and their families leaving the village and new ones arriving.

 

In September 1939 the school opened for both Englefield children and evacuees from London in almost equal numbers: 40 Englefield and 39 evacuees. The initial proposal was that the school would open on 12 September with the Englefield children attending from 8.50 until 12.30 and the London children being taught by their own teachers from 1.00 until 4.30 but by the 19th all the children were taught together. By January 1940 the number of evacuees at the school had fallen to 17.

 

Absences

 

In rural areas children could be excused from school for up to six weeks to help with agricultural work and this often happened at Englefield. The long summer holiday was even called the "Harvest Holiday". In May 1865 it was noted that several lads were away haymaking and on 2 July that year a very poor attendance was recorded on account of a number of boys out at work. In June four years later the attendance was small on account of "haymaking and bee-minding". In October 1870 it was noted that 73 children were away on the morning and 76 in the afternoon, probably because the high wind during the night had blown down a great number of acorns. The acorns could be sold to Mr Benyon's gamekeepers, who presumably used them for feeding pheasants, and in 1894 the Rector reminds us that "it is not lawful but downright robbery to sell them to any other person". Even in the 1950s "spud hucking" (collecting the potatoes dug up by machine) by children was common, a carry-over from the war years. During the First World War the school was closed on some afternoons to allow the children to gather blackberries and other fruit, as well as horse chestnuts for use in making anti-gas respirator filters. Children were also allowed to be excused from school for limited periods to help with agricultural work.

 

Absence for other reasons, legitimate or otherwise, was also quite common. Illness was one cause of absence and in the later years of the 19th century Englefield suffered a number of epidemics including measles in 1881, 1884 and again in 1893. In 1881 the school was closed from 14 January  to 19 February and in 1893 from 12 October until 3 January 1894. An epidemic of mumps occurred in 1897 and smallpox in 1871 but medical reasons also accounted many individual absences. Ringworm was quite common and in 1889 Mary and Martha Harris were sent home with instruction not to return "unless their swarming heads are thoroughly cleansed of vermin". The weather was another common cause of absence with snow and heavy rain making it difficult for children to get from the outlying houses. Less legitimate excuses included the Cavalry exercising at Theale in 1865, the General Election in 1868 and the hounds meeting in the village.

 

Punishment

 

Corporal punishment was, of course, common for both boys and girls. Henry Best, Headmaster between at least 1883 and 1887 was a notorious user of the cane. In 1883 after Ernest Allen's mother complained, he stated his policy as "with regard to lesson work, never to use the cane unless nothing at all in the way of honest work is done; also with regard to talking, never to use the cane for less than six times talking". The school log book for 1886 records that "Agnes Harris, an infant, being very sulky and refusing to obey her teacher force was used and she was compelled by the cane to do that required of her". Agnes's father took her to Dr Cox and told Best that in consequence of two marks on her arm he must take the child from the school and expose him unless he paid the doctor's bill. This was reported to the school managers and although the outcome is not recorded, Best was replaced by Henry Sait the following year.

 

In February 1893 the Master of Foxhounds, Mr Bligh, asked that children be let out of school at eleven to see them, but as no holiday had been given the previous year the managers declined. In February the following year John Bond and William Fowler took matters into their own hands when hounds met and "played away" all one afternoon. John Bond was "duly whipped" but William Fowler who got very wet and caught influenza was considered to have suffered enough.

 

Other punishments were also used: Miss Winchcomb recalled being punished in about 1900 for talking in class by being made to stand on one of the wooden forms with a duster tied over her eyes. "Not a pleasant experience for a small child", she remembered. Ernest Allen was another who suffered the same punishment.