1863
|
|
| 4th March
6th March
|
Many of the elder children
away to work in gardens
Took a wine glass from a boy, who had it in his pocket.
Caution, - "Never carry such things in your pocket, if you
were to fall and break it, it might cause a great injury to
you."
|
| 9th & 10th March
|
Holiday. Marriage of the Prince of Wales. |
| 25th March |
A woman came to school and gratuitously
instructed me in the method of spelling. Her children would
be taken away unless they had the customary lessons out of the old
spelling books. Better attendance. Discipline
improving; knowledge of drill.
|
| 1st April |
Children improving in discipline. |
| 6th April |
Increased numbers, children
peculiarly clean and orderly.
|
| 8th April |
Music progressing, some
good voices but apt to sing flat.
|
| 13th April |
Homework
well prepared except in a few instances where the elder girls are
required at home.
|
| 16th April |
Some of the children picked
the young fruit in the garden. Told them of the sin of
stealing. |
| 29th April |
Inquired into the habits of
the children, instructed them to observe cleanly habits. |
| 6th May |
Expelled a boy after
repeated warnings for playing the Truant.
|
| 13th May |
Obliged to punish a boy for
indulging in his propensity of throwing stones. |
| 14th May |
Boys brought their sticks to school
& received their 1st lesson in the Sword Exercises after
school. |
| 22nd May |
Broke up for the Whitsun
Holiday. Cautioned them about their behaviour especially
regarding the clubs. Gave them a lecture concerning the
Missionaries.
The children have far exceeded my anticipations both in regard to
their manners and eagerness to attend their studies. Did not
meet with the obstacles a new master generally has to
overcome. Boys
wished to attend the cricket club lately formed in the village. |
| 3rd June |
Oldest
girl in the school left to go into Service. |
| 4th June |
Increased attendance,
children very quiet. Taught them a new hymn and song
"Little Bird".
|
| 9th June |
More absent haymaking,
weather being so beautiful. |
| 22nd June |
Poor
attendance this morning being Market day at Chard. The girls
either go or keep house at home. |
| 25th June |
Two of the elder boys
copied answers to their sums and denied it, compelled to punish
them. |
| 29th June |
Children
clean & orderly. Some boots extra polished. |
|
(Note - Comments often appear in the
Log Book about behaviour in church, visits to which were a regular
part of the school timetable.) |
| 8th July |
One of little ones picked a
gooseberry, cautioned them about it. |
| 17th July |
Very good attendance, only
6 away. Inspector visited school, stayed till half past
five. Mr and Mrs Ware with the Misses Ware were
present. Examination successful, Inspector satisfied, remarks
very encouraging, observed that the children acquitted themselves
as well as the Chard Schools. |
| 23rd July |
Excursion to Charmouth;
children greatly pleased, inclined to be showery, but rain kept
off. |
| 24th July |
More than usual away today,
tired from yesterday's trip.
Little ones had tea etc in the Vicarage. |
| 30th July |
One or two of boys went to
the Choral Festival at Buckland. Rather cloudy. Quiet
etc in School. |
| 3rd August |
Attendance not so good as
regards the elder ones. Weather delightful; very hot in
school; occupied 5 minutes in giving water to them, much relieved.
|
| 4th August |
Drum & fife band
discussed; subscription entered into. The cricket field too
far off for boys to play at dinner time. Good attendance in
3rd and 4th Classes.
|
| 10th August |
1st division improving in
Vulgar Fractions, 2nd division improving in
Reduction. Discipline pretty good, punished one of the elder
girls. |
| 13th August |
Children anxious about
their holidays, indulging in anticipations etc. |
| 14th August |
Last day at school prior to
Harvest Holidays, gave them plenty of work to occupy their
time. Cautioned them as to behaviour etc. |
|
3 WEEKS HOLIDAY |
| 14th September |
Weather fine. One of
the elder girls gone away on a visit to Malvern. |
| 17th September |
Scolded them (all of the
1st boys especially) for the noise they make in passing up the
village from School. They promised amendment. |
| 24th September |
Singing much better,
difficult to keep them in time, progress satisfactory. Amused
the 1st Class with tales of Animals. |
| 29th September |
Discipline good. 1st
Class wishing for more tales, gave them instead a lesson on
Electricity, pleased them very much |
| 8th October |
Examined them in their tables. |
| 14th October |
Object lesson to 1st Class
on the "Mechanical properties of the Atmosphere", liked
very much. Heard 2nd Class read very nicely. |
|
| 15th October |
Cautioned
the teachers of indolence, not exhibiting any energy with children,
& fully employing their time. |
| 22nd October |
Lessons gone through very
well. Was told of the practice some of the boys indulged in
of swearing. Told them the evil of it and cautioned them for
the future.
|
| 26th October |
Had occasion to punish one
of the little ones for playing in Church. Explained to the
1st Class the 3rd Commandment and especially referred to their bad
language.
|
| 3rd November |
Discipline
very good. Drill excellent.
|
| 5th November |
Boys all excitement
regarding the bonfires, told them the occasion of the ceremony.
|
| 12th November |
1st Class assisted
materially in clearing a playground out of my garden. Made a
bonfire of the refuse. |
| 17th November |
Examination
in Arithmetic. Great difficulty in recollecting Multiplication
Tables. |
|
25th November
|
Little ones excited by
promise of promotion next quarter. One or two made great
progress during the term. |
|
16th December
|
Xmas the only topic during intervals of
school, children apparently crazed about decorations. |
|
18th December
|
Good attendance. Work
done very well. Discipline good. Broke up for the Xmas
Holidays. Cautioned children as to their behaviour during
time, spoke to several individually about associating with some of
bad boys. Told them not to waste all time playing etc, some
went after holly etc to decorate the School etc. |
1864
|
|
| 18th January |
One
of the girls secreted a reel of cotton in her bosom. |
| 20th January |
Discipline etc good in
school room, little ones noisy. One of the girls secreted a
reel of cotton in her bosom. It being missing, enquired for
it,caused those who were using it to stand out; searched in vain;
suspected a girl named Baker; watched and discovered it, the girl
denying all knowledge and wondering how it came there; kept her by
herself till an enquiry was made. |
| 22nd January |
Last night Mrs Baker came
down and was much surprised at my statement, the girl having given
a different account. The girl told a number of
lies. Received her again in hopes she would reform being such
a bad girl. Scripture very good in 1st Class. 3rd Class
Reading much better. One of girls obliged to go home being
so unwell. |
| 5th February |
Obliged to punish one of
the boys for attempted deceit and for stealing things from home,
cautioned the others from taking anything from him. |
| 23rd February |
One or two of little ones
ill. 3rd Class Arithmetic improving. Had again to
speak of conduct in dinner hour. 2 of elder girls took off
their boots in order to run about without noise; they were shamed
before the whole school by standing on a form without them for an
hour, very sorry. |
| 25th February |
Attendance very poor on account of the
snow. Scolded the elder ones for snowballing the little ones. |
| 15th March |
Children came late, fancied
they stopped to gather the flowers which they gave me. I
told them that doing wrong would not please me; pointed out the
contrast. |
| 22nd March |
Beautiful weather; the boys pressed me
earnestly to stay out in the playground. Gave them permission for
an hour. Amused themselves with the Bar-marbles they enjoyed it
much. |
| April |
Chief Teacher: Peter Thos: Schonfield
Pupil teacher: John Way
The wife of the master undertook the needlework. |
|
(Note - There
are constant
references to undisciplined behaviour & misbehaviour in Church.)
|
| April 4th |
Attendance very good;
children worked very well, very pleased the Inspector is coming
tomorrow, little ones still behind. |
| 9th May |
Boys as well as girls
cogitating about the Club next week. Attendance poor.
Good many of 1st class away. |
| 13th May |
Broke
up for the Whitsun Holiday. Told them to be sure to come back next
week. |
| 23rd May |
Very
poor attendance owing to the Whitsun clubs in the neighbourhood.
|
| 22nd
June |
Punished one of elder boys
for throwing stones. |
| 23rd
June |
Boys went out in Garden for
half an hour this afternoon clearing up. Wanted to do so
very often. |
| 29th July |
Work
rather lagged owing to the notion of the holidays.
Broke up school this afternoon for the Harvest Holiday. Gave
one month owing to my going home for the vacation. Broke up school this afternoon for the Harvest holiday. Cautioned the
boys as to their behaviour during that time.
|
| 29th August |
Resumed work after
vacation. Pretty good attendance considering the Harvest is
not quite over. |
| 30th August |
Revised
a little of the back work. Found
a larger amount of forgetfulness than I had expected. |
| 9th September |
School Treat |
|
 |
| 5th October |
Little ones rather
forgetful, Teacher not much up to work. |
| 25th October |
Tables by 2nd class very bad. |
| 26th October |
Tables said again today. Much better
than yesterday. |
|
(Note -
Frequent reference is made to performance of saying tables.)
|
| 2nd
November |
Some of girls stayed later
than necessary in coming to school. Kept them in.
|
| 1st
December |
Many of children away on
account of fever.
|
| 6th
December |
Some of parents afraid to
send children.
|
| 13th
December |
Very great distress in
village on a/c of the fever.
|
| 26th
December |
December 26th - January
9th XMAS HOLIDAYS
|
1865
|
|
|
January
12th |
Children
this afternoon very noisy with their feet.
|
| March
1st |
Chief
Teacher:
Peter Thomas Schofield
Copy of Summary of the Inspector’s Report:
“Considering
that the children were detained a long time in
School in consequence of the returns not being ready, I
found the Discipline
very fair, and the Religious Knowledge in some cases good but the answering should be more general.The progress in
elementary subjects was on the whole very fair, but
the arithmetic of the first and second, and the spelling of
the third standard
want attention. More
parallel desks are wanted. The
classes below the first have only double desks.
Considering
the prevalence of illness in the School, My Lords are
ready to waive the deduction incurred by the non-adherence
to the ninth Supplementary Rule, which must however in future be strictly observed. H.M. Inspector adds that more Books are needed. A Register must in
future be kept of the Evening School by the Master. The Master
will shortly receive his certificate".
S A Ware. March 21st 1865
|
|
March
2nd |
Had
a little rest after the severe work of yesterday.
|
|
March
6th |
Commenced
the next succession of lessons, some of the
children not fit to take the same as their class warrants
them in consequence of their absence.
|
|
March
13th |
Attendance
still very poor, so many of the little ones ill.
|
|
March
20th |
Attendance
very poor, so many of them ill and others staying in gardens.
|
|
April
7th |
Scripture
said extremely well. Cautioned
them in regard to their
careless way of learning Home Lessons.
|
|
April
10th |
Attendance
much better this morning. Good
many fresh little
ones.
Some very young.
|
| April11th |
3rd Class rather idle, no play for
them. |
| April
17th |
Attendance poor, so many elder ones
away at work. |
|
April
26th |
Could
not work so well today owing to receiving bad news of little one.
|
|
April
28th-May 6th |
Away
from school on account of child’s illness.
School carried on.
|
| May
8th |
Good many fresh little ones. Very
tiresome as most all of them were too young for Standard 1 &
there were too many in the classroom. |
| May 29th |
Could not work much in
school owing to my little one’s illness. |
| May 30th |
Work rather slack due to same cause. |
|
June
2nd |
WHITSUN
HOLIDAYS |
|
June
13th |
Attendance
much less than average owing to the Haymaking.
Work pretty
well. 3rd Class
improving.
|
| July 5th |
Bother
with 2 or 3 of parents regarding the payment of School Pence. |
|
July
10th |
The
Girl never brought School penny, extra desired her to bring
it tomorrow. Work and Discipline good.
|
|
July
11th |
Girl
stayed away, children said she was not coming.
|
|
July
17th |
Much
better attendance, one or two came rather dirty.
Had to
caution one or two in regard to their behaviour in Church.
|
|
July
20th |
Choral
Festival at Wells.
|
|
July
25th |
Children
in better order than they have ever been.
Writing in 2nd
Class and Reading in 3rd improving rapidly.
Arithmetic poor
owing to those who have lately come from other schools and
do not know
a figure. Very tiring
work this afternoon, so hot.
|
|
July
28th |
HARVEST
HOLIDAYS
|
|
August
28th |
Commencement
of school work after Holidays.
Attendance poor.
|
| September 12th |
Weather
so hot, almost impossible to do very much. |
|
September
22nd |
Very
poor attendance again today.
Picking potatoes, leasing etc
|
| October 2nd |
Attendance much better with elder ones.
24 little ones gone to another school. |
|
October
3rd |
Began
old rules again as we found the Diocesan inspector was
not coming.
|
| November 15th |
Many late today owing to bell being
broken. |
|
November
23rd |
Punished
a boy for swearing. Cautioned
all.
|
| December 13th |
Unable
to do much in consequence of the death of my little girl. |
|
|
HOLIDAYS |