Schooling in Wateringbury (1896)

Post date: Feb 12, 2012 8:53:26 PM

An extract from Wateringbury parish magazine of February 1896

THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS.

A well-attended meeting of rate-payers was held on the 16th of January to consider the position and the prospects of the Voluntary Schools, and the advisibility of maintaining them, as such in the future.

Augustus Leney occupied the chair, and there were present Lieut.-General Dawson Scott, R. E. General Schneider, Dr. Fry, Messrs. W. W. Blest, Wm. Jude, P. H. Copley, E. Goodwin, Dray, Tapley, Starmer, Beavan, Pearson, Wells, Wells, jun., Featherstone, Hawes, Court, Whitmore, Martin, Morris, French Welsh, Ward, Captain Login, Rev. C. H. Fielding, the Vicar, and others.

The Chairman opened the meeting by referring briefly to the history of the schools, the site and buildings which had been given some 50 years ago by Mr. Alderman Lucas, and the buildings had since been enlarged by voluntary subscriptions two or three times; and then proceeded to review concisely the existing requirements of the schools.

The estimated balance sheet for the current year (ending 31st January),which was in the hands of the meeting, showed a deficit of about £40, which would have been about double that amount but that it had already been reduced by additional subscriptions; and the carefully prepared account of average receipts and expenditure showed that the annual subscriptions raised in the past (averaging about £100 during the last six years) would have to be raised to nearly £150 if the schools were to be maintained.

He thought the fairest way to meet this sum was by an agreement among the ratepayers to pay a voluntary rate. On his calculations the rate would be about 5d. in the pound. The only alternative seemed to be a School Board ; but the experience of other places under a Board proved that, under from various causes, the expenses of school maintenance increased more rapidly than under voluntary management. The chairman here quoted the case of a neighbouring parish, in which under a board the rate had been 5 3/4d. in 1892-3, had gone up to 8 1/2d. in 1894-5, and again, owing to an enlargement of the schools, to 10 1/2d. this year.

The Chairman then said there was a further difficulty to be faced. The Education Department had called upon the Managers to enlarge the Class Room of the Boys' School and to make sundry other additiona and improvements, which had been estimated to cost £600. These alterations had already been delayed one year , and he was told that further delay would endanger the receipt of the Government grant. At

Malling a similar difficulty had been met by a voluntary rate of 1/- in the pound. He thought that it would better for the rate-payers to agree to a voluntary rate even of 1/9 in the pound than to hand over the school to a Board just at a time when the Government was likely to do something for schools throughout the country.

In the discussion which followed the chairman's remarks Messrs. Blest, Pearson, Wells, Hawes, Dray, and others took part, and the advantages and disadvantages of a Board School were considered. The meeting evidently required some sort of guarantee that the schools should not go to a board at a future time after a large sum of money had been spent upon them.

In the course of the discussion Lieut.-General Dawson Scott proposed—

''That the Schools be carried on on a voluntary basis."

This resolution was seconded by Mr. Hawes, put to the meeting, and carried unanimously.

The Vicar briefly supported the chairman, and said that shortly after the last election he had conversed with Viscount Cranborne on the subject of voluntary schools. Lord Cranborne said, " stick to the voluntary schools at all hazards for the next year or two," and explained that, in view of the feeling in the north of England, the Government would have to do something for voluntary schools , and he thought that aid would be afforded them from the rates. The Vicar thought that in such a case Managers of voluntary schools would shortly find themselves in possession of legal powers similar to those enjoyed by School Boards. No doubt a quid pro quo would be required in the way of representative management which for his part, as sole Manager by the trust-deed, he was willing to anticipate.

Eventually Mr. W. W. Blest proposed the following resolution—

''That the Rate-payers be asked to sign an agreement binding themselves to submit to a Voluntary Rate to be continued for three years to find the capital sum of about £600 for the enlargement of the Schools and placing them in proper repair, and that they also agree to pay an annual rate necessary for maintenance."

The chairman said he had reason to believe that arrangements could be made whereby the sum required for the enlargement would be forthcoming when required, if the if the resolution were carried and acted on. Mr. Wm. Jude said he would be willing to support the scheme and begged to second the resolution. He added that he had just calculated that it would involve a voluntary rate of 1/- in the pound for three years. The resolution was then put and carried nem.con.

It was suggested that the rate-payers should be asked to sign a voluntary agreement in terms of the resolution, and that the result of the canvass should be communicated to the rate-payers and considered by them at a future meeting.

The Vicar said that in the event of the scheme proving successful he should ask to be allowed to renounce his rights of sole management to a committee constituted as follows :—The Vicar, five members elected at annual meeting of subscribing rate-payers, and three members nominated by the Vicar.

The Rev. C. H. Fielding, as the Ruri-decanal representative of the National Society, said that he had no doubt that the Society would give a grant towards the new building fund.

On the motion of Mr. Dray it was agreed that the chairman should draft and forward to Lord Salisbury, on behalf of the meeting, a memorial praying that the Government should introduce a measure removing the disabilities of National Schools as compared with Board Schools.

A hearty vote of thanks to the chairman, proposed by the Vicar and seconded by Dr. Fry, carried unanimously, and a suitable response by the chairman closed the proceedings of the meeting.

***

A matter of some importance, but of less importance than it seems at the first blush, has been raised since the meeting. "Why," it is asked, "should we have to find school space and teaching staff for 50 children who come to our schools from other parishes ?" This question startled me when I first heard it put. For a moment 1 hoped there was an escape from our liability to build. Then I collected information, considered the matter in all its bearings, and discovered—a mare's nest!

The actual number of outsiders is 41. Of these, 14 are in the Boys' School, and 7 of them taught in the class-room in Standard II. and III. The average number of boys in these Standards by year, is 40, whereas the class-room is only large enough to accommodate 20. So that if we refuse the outsiders admission, we should still be compelled to enlarge our class-room very considerably and the saving would be trifling.

We have considered all possible methods of grouping the Standards ,for teaching purposes, and find that the only alternative to putting Standards II. and III. into the class-room is the double one of increasing the teaching staff and enlarging the school-room instead of the class-room and we have included in these considerations the possibility of refusing admission to these 14 outsiders.

There are still other and weighty considerations. If we refused admission to any outsiders, others would be taken away. Brothers and sisters, elders and infants, go to and come from the Schools together. Practically, all must be refused or all admitted. The presence of these 41 outsiders, on the computation, increases the annual Government Grant by £45. A pupil teacher, earning a salary increasing in four years from say £5 to £20 or £25, is reckoned, on the teaching-staff, as good 30 children. It would be false economy on this and other grounds to refuse admission to outsiders.

Moreover, after carefully reading the opinions of the Education Department on the matter so far as they are expressed in the notes to the code, I am under the impression that we are compelled to admit outsiders so long and in so far as we have school space. We could not refuse admission to all of them. The Department would by no means sanction, for instance, refusal to such as come from the top of Cannon Lane, though they live in Malling parish. And I should like to suggest one fact for consideration : no less than 25 Wateringbury children go to Teston Schools. I have not enquired whether any go to Nettlestead.

Some of the parishioners of Wateringbury are just beginning to realize the complexities of School management. This awakening of interest will bear good fruit in the future. But no wonder that under present and recent circumstances the Vicar has had little time to think of anything else; and he takes this opportunity of sincerely thanking not a few of the parishioners who have likewise given much time and thought of late to a very serious matter connected with the present and future welfare of the parish

G. M. L.