School’s Out - Pembridge School 100 Years Ago

1925 was a very frustrating year for the Headmaster of Pembridge CE Primary School. At the end of the year exams were held and school prizes presented. In December 1924 these were awarded to Penelope Hicks, Margaret Hope, Lyndon Matthews, Peter Jackson, Mary Sharp, Edgar Watkins, Vernon Jackson, and Alex Sharp. At the end of 1925 writing in his journal, Mr James Ayers, headmaster, wrote “I did not give prizes, except to Joyce Matthews, in view of the unsatisfactory nature of the year.”

Flooding 

1925 started with adverse weather and illness affecting attendance. In January twenty-three children out of ninety were absent. Nearly all children walked to school, some for many miles, and heavy rain and snow didn’t make this easy. It wasn’t helped by a shortage of coal as the classrooms were heated by coke burners and  the first delivery of coal wasn’t made until February. 

There was nothing new in attendance falling in the winter months but in 1925 the weather was persistently troublesome. On 19th May Mr Ayers wrote “A thunderstorm of great violence accompanied by torrential rain raged all night. The school yards were flooded and a thick layer of mud deposited on them. The water also ran into my room under the door.” Three days later he recorded “Yards flooded with liquid mud again.”

Drought

Drier weather during July brought yet more problems. The school was not on mains water but relied on a well. In July three weeks without rain left the school short of water, compounded by the pump, which drew water from the well, having broken. 

Throughout the year Mr Ayers vented his frustration at casual absences :- on 7th April thirteen children were absent to attend a point to point race at Milton; two weeks later two families attended a wedding; the school closed for the Cowslip Fair in May but the following day twenty one took the day off; June saw ten boys away on a choir trip; others took time off to attend fetes and jumble sales in the neighbourhood. But worse was yet to come. 

Disease 

Mid-October saw a measles outbreak with fifteen families quarantined.  Only forty out of eighty-six children were present and many of them had colds. To contain the outbreak, it was agreed that the school should close for three weeks. 

It reopened on 5th November but only twenty-four pupils turned up, with no one from Bearwood or Marston present. All but two or three of the absentees had measles. By 20th November attendance had only climbed to fifty one percent. Mr Ayers noted that some families had now been quarantined for four or five weeks, and it was agreed that Mr Hawkins, the Attendance Officer of the local education authority, would call on them.

Absence through illness dogged the rest of the term and it seems that many children simply got out of the habit of attending school regularly. We may see some parallels with post pandemic school attendance today.  By December a despondent Mr Ayers had pared back the end of year examinations to testing on the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) and cut back the prize giving to just one pupil, Joyce Matthews, who achieved the top marks. 

Kay Ingram