This was a book, normally completed by the head teacher, in which were recorded day to day events that occurred at the school.

 

In particular visits from important people such as school inspectors or the clergy, details of staff absences, comments on attendance levels and special events would be noted.

 

Whilst much of this information is necessarily fairly mundane some items do give a flavour of what school life was like well over 100 years ago.

 

 

24^th July 1885 – School gets smaller. Holiday on Thursday for the Castle Ashby Flower Show and broke up on Friday as the following week is the Annual Feast

 

 

13^th August 1885 – Broke up for the harvest holidays (five weeks).

 

Children of all ages were expected to work in the fields at harvest time ‘gleaning’ for oddments of corn left by the reapers as many families would depend on this to last them through the year for their flour supply. They would also be required to pick other crops in season and this seemed to take precedence over attending school. This is shown by the entry a few weeks later

 

2^nd October 1885 – school continues to be very poorly attended during the week. Potatoes, blackberries etc taking the children off into the fields

 

The connection with the church in these years was clearly very strong. The Rector of Yardley Hastings from 1881 -1893 was George Henry Rigby and the log book shows just how much of his time he spent at Denton School. He visited at least once a week and frequently was present 3 days a week. On some days it was noted he visited ‘thrice’!  His duties were varied, including checking and verifying the accuracy of the register of attendance, teaching the children scripture and examining the pupil’s knowledge in other subjects.

 

Presumably he travelled from Yardley Hastings by horseback or trap, or possibly even by bicycle which was quite an undertaking when he was such a regular visitor. It is likely he was equally engaged providing a similar service to the Yardley school so a lot of his time would have been taken up with supporting the education of the children of these parishes.

 

In April 1893 Rev Thomas Amys was appointed vicar of Denton and so there was no need for the Yardley incumbent to continue making his frequent trips. Ironically although the new man only had to walk down from Compton House at the end of Vicarage Lane down ‘Backside’ to the gatehouses and thus to the school his visits were less frequent than those of his predecessor – he was in school usually once a week.

 

It may be surprising that schools were formally inspected every year in those days and the log book contains a longhand transcript of the findings. The results for Denton show a mixed outcome. For example the report for the year 1893 reads.

 

Mixed school.

 

The children are well behaved and attentive and evidently take interest in their work. In many respects they have acquitted themselves satisfactorily in the examination, although some of the results are disappointing. Spelling is defective in the third and fourth standards and the Arithmetic of the upper Standards requires more than ordinary attention. The Handwriting has somewhat improved especially in the copy-books and many of the children in the third standard attacked the problems successfully. Geography although improving cannot yet be classed good; more neatness might be shewn in Map-drawing. The needle work is good and singing by note would be more satisfactory if care were taken to train the ears.

 

Infant’s class.

 

This infants’ class is conducted with success and the children receive instruction thoroughly suitable to their tender years. They read well, have improved in writing and are very proficient in the elements of number. The Needlework is creditable and musical drill as satisfactory as can be fairly expected without the aid of a musical instrument.

 

Evening school

 

The boys behave well and their elementary work is fairly good. Mensuration had not been taught with much success. A fair knowledge of Agriculture was shewn by the fifth and sixth standards.

 

 

 

With the passage of time as well as reporting on the educational achievements of the school the annual report also commented on issues relating to the premises. In 1910 for example the inspection produced the following -

 

Copy of Report made by H.M.I,  L. J. Monks Esq. after visit of 28^th February 1910.

The instruction continues to be carried on with care and industry in this school. The teaching is methodical and skilful, the discipline is very good, and the scholars, who are bright and painstaking, display creditable proficiency in their attainments.

 

Some good literary readers, containing selections of poetry, as well as standard prose, would be useful in the upper division.

 

A single entrance serves for boys, girls, and infants, and the infants have to pass through the main room occupied by the older scholars, sometimes whilst the latter are at work. The cloak accommodation is scarcely sufficient for the number of scholars, and is in other ways unsatisfactory. The lighting of the main room is chiefly from behind the scholars, and gable lighting seems impossible owing to the adjoining buildings, but it would be well if the Managers would consider whether some arrangement could not be made to obviate these defects in the premises.

The playgrounds have been suitably surfaced.

 

Attendance rates figure very frequently in the log book entries and it has to be said the entries noting poor attendance outnumber those reporting good numbers at school.

 

The history of school attendance rates is governed to some extent by prevailing rules at the time.

 

In 1870 William Forster’s Elementary Education Act required that provision be made for all children of 5 -12 years to have education available to them. However it was not provided free (although the price was limited to not more than 9d. per week) and so many children failed to attend as their parents could simply not afford to send them. The locally elected school boards set up did have the ability to pay fees for poor children however.

 

In 1880 the situation changed as education was made compulsory for children up to the age of 10 years and in 1889 the leaving age was raised to 12. However it was not until 1891 that schooling was provided free of charge for the first time. Standard school hours were from 9 a.m until 12 noon then a 2 hours lunch break during which most children would return home for their main meal before returning to school for 2p.m and the end of the school day was at 5 p.m.

 

The weather was also a significant factor as, in an era before cars, children living in the outlying farms were frequently prevented by inclement weather from getting to school – heavy snow falls seemed a normal occurrence most winters.

 

Some sequences of entries seem to hint at intriguing stories that will never be fully explained. For example in 1886 the book notes

 

21^st May – Two more children left this week, one having gone to Rev H. Moffatt as servant girl although she is not 13 years old neither has she passed Standard II or III or IV in all the three subjects required by Govt.

 

28^th May The Rev. G.H. Rigby visited on Tuesday and checked the Registers finding them correct. The girl reported as having gone to service last week to Mr Moffatts has returned to school the attendance officer having written concerning her; the other has also left his work for the same reason but has not returned to school but runs around the street.

 

These entries suggest there is rather more to the situation than is written down. Rev Rigby was the Rector at Yardley

Hastings who visited the school very regularly but just who Rev Moffatt was is unknown as is why he seemed keen to spirit away a young servant girl!

 

The following entries show that the school premises were sometimes commandeered for other purposes. It was of course long before the time of a village hall so the school room was needed for a number of reasons.

 

 

1886 – 4^th June. Usual routine with thin attendance and next week being Whitweek we broke off today at noon to allow the clubmen to get in the beer ready for the annual feast on Whit Monday.

 

1886 – 14^th October. Rev G. H. Rigby visited thrice. Tomorrow there will be a holiday owing to the Clothing Club being served in the school.

 

1900 – 14^th November. A holiday was given yesterday as the room was required for a local Government Board Enquiry.

 

1904 -2^nd March. Holiday yesterday as the schoolroom was used by the Confirmation Candidates.

 

1906 26^th January. School closed 25^th January owing to the poll for the Mid Northamptonshire taking place at the school.

 

The Clothing Club referred to above is likely to have been some sort of provision made by those who could afford to contribute a small sum to enable the school to have clothes and footwear for those children whose families could not afford anything.  It is not clear why such an exercise would necessitate the school being closed for a whole day!

 

Reference is made frequently in the log book to the six different ‘Standards’ of educational achievement. As pupils’ ability varied considerably from child to child the standard achieved it was not so much an indication of age but more an indication of what level of learning had been reached.

 

Each standard was related to the 3 R’s – Reading, writing and arithmetic. The following extract is from the ‘Standards of Education – revised code of regulations 1872’

 

Standard 1

 

Reading – one of the narratives next in order after monosyllables in an elementary reading book used in the school

 

Writing – Copy in manuscript character a line of print, and write down form dictation a few common words.

 

Arithmetic – Simple addition and subtraction of numbers of not more than four figures, and the multiplication table to multiplication by six.

 

 

The level of difficulty then progressed through the intermediate standards until the highest Standard VI was attained. This required –

 

Standard VI

 

Reading – To read with fluency and expression.

 

Writing – A short theme or letter, or an easy paraphrase.

 

Arithmetic – Proportion and fractions (vulgar and decimal).

 

Passing these standards was important to the pupils as the byelaws stated that children between the age of 10 and 13 could leave school provided they had achieved at least Standard IV in all three subjects. Furthermore a child over 10 shown to the Authorities to be ‘beneficially and necessarily employed’ were only required to attend school for 150 days per year as long as they had a certificate indicating they had passed Standard III.

 

This explains the background to the log book entry below -

 

3^rd January 1887.  Opened school on the 3^rd Inst. with a very fair attendance  Many of the boys who have been in the fields at work returning to make up their 150 attendances previous to returning to work.

 

Many book entries are comments on the level of attendance, whether good or bad.

 

A note to the 1885 account states

 

The Average Attendance in the Mixed School was 62, in the Infant School 38

 

The number presented for Exn. Was 64

Absent without excuse                        1

                                                        -----

                                                         65

 

Passes in Reading                           57

                Writing                            43

               Arithmetic                       35

                                                     -----

                                                     135

 

Equivalent to 69 per cent

 

The Grant earned was Mixed School               £41.0.6

                                    Infants                          £31.7.0

                                                                       -----------

                                                                        £72.7.6

                                                       

 

 

To encourage good attendance and, therefore, keep the funding levels up children with good records of being at school were rewarded with certificates

 

1910 November 17^th   The prizes for Regular Attendance presented by the Most Honbl. the Marquis of Northampton K.G were distributed this morning.

 

1911 September 25^th – Mr W. Smart (Chairman) visited this afternoon and distributed the following Medals

3 White metal for 2 years perfect attendance

7 Gilt                “ 3    “         “             “

5 bronze          “  4    “         “             “

1 Silver Bar     “ 6   “          “              “

2 Silver Bars    “7   “          “             “

 

 

Illness is another theme appearing very regularly in the log book. The period in question is long before there were vaccinations available for common complaints and a doctors services were not only limited but cost money so were sparingly used. The teachers were not immune and seem to have had their fair share of illness absences as well. Sometimes the prevalence of outbreaks was such that the school had to be closed.

 

1887- November 22^nd- Closed school this evening on acct. of Fever and Measles being prevalent.

 

1888 – January 9^th – Opened school this morning after being closed for fever and measles seven weeks.

 

Death was a much more familiar occurrence in Victorian times but the children none the less were inevitably affected by loss of friends.

 

1888 – June 26^th – A very dull school today, some of the elder children crying most of the morning in consequence of the death of a favourite little scholar of whom the whole school was fond.

 

Late 1892 proved to be a particularly difficult time - 

 

1892 – October 24^th Several children absent today – most of them suffering from mumps.

 

October 26^th – Twelve more children absent today suffering from mumps.

 

October 28^th – Very poor attendance throughout the week the aver. Attendance being 61

 

November 11^th – Ten more children absent throughout the week some suffering from Whooping Cough and others from Mumps.

 

November 18^th – Owing to a great deal of sickness in the village the attendance is still very poor. The aver. Attendance only being 59. Since the re-opening after Harvest Holidays 3 children have died viz.Jos. Gayton & Ellen Joyce St II and Ellen Stratton in the Inft. Class.

 

In 1896 measles was again affecting Denton.

 

January 10^th – The attendance continues very poor. Five fresh cases of illness this week

 

January 22^nd – Thirteen fresh cases of illness since Monday.  Six children suffering from measles.

 

January 23^rd – Three more children absent today through measles. Mr Bennett the attendance officer visited this morning.

 

January 28^th – Very poor attendance today, 40 children absent.

 

January 30^th - Received an order this morning from the Medical Officer of Health to close the school until further notice owing to the continued spread of measles.

 

After this outbreak the school remained closed for four weeks and re-opened March 2^nd 1896.

 

 In 1903 a similar situation arose and over 40 children (about half of the total at school) were absent through measles and the Medical Officer again closed the school on 6^th  July for over three weeks until it re-opened on 29^th July.

 

In the late years of the 20^th century an insight of the curriculum content is given in the form of an annual record in the log book of what was to be covered in the year.

 

This noted some of the work that the various levels of scholar were expected to tackle. The entry for 1895 reads as follows –

 

Repetition for 1895.

 

Standards 1 & II – Nell and her Bird (40 lines)

 

Standard III –The Spider and the Fly (88 lines)

 

Standards IV to VI – Horatius (158 lines)

 

Class subjects

 

Geography according to Schedule II

Stands. IV to VI grouped for St. V requirements.

 

History for Boys

Needlework for Girls

 

Tonic – Sol-fa

 

Division I = The Infants

 

Division II = Standards I & II

 

Division III = Standard III upwards

 

Object Lessons for Infants

 

The Elephant, Lion, Camel, Wolf. Fox, Ostrich, Duck, Hive Bees, Frog, Hen, Butterfly, Cotton Plant, Potato, Coffee Tree, Leather, A Bed, Railway Station, Boots & Shoes, A Tree, Sheep – washing and shearing, Haymaking, Wheat, Apple, Table, Outside of a House, Inside of a House, The Seasons, Bread, A Straw-Hat, The Stinging Nettle.

 

It is interesting that children of all ages were expected to memorise quite long passages of poetry – presumably so they could form a ‘party piece’ at subsequent family gatherings. The poem for the top standards, Horatius by Thomas Babbington Macaulay is not only very long but extremely full of difficult words – a real challenge for anyone to commit to memory – look it up and see for yourself!

 

Tonic Sol-Fa was a method of teaching sight singing which was particularly in vogue around  the end of the 19^th century to the extent that sheet music of popular songs of the era sometimes had the tonic sol-fa notation included.

 

 It is based on the ‘do-reh-me-fa-so-la-te-do’ system and presumably the three divisions mentioned in the log book simply reflected the degree to which the children could hold a note – probably a fairly subjective judgement on the teacher’s part!

 

The list of objects for the infants is particularly interesting. Presumably the youngest pupils were shown pictures of the items and had to put a name to them. The list includes many that would be familiar to a village dwelling child – haymaking, potato and butterfly for example.

 

However others are much more ‘exotic’ such as the elephant and camel and many children today would struggle to identify a Cotton Plant or Coffee Tree.