Misdeeds and Misdemeanors at the School
The
School House was built by the Cavenham estate in 1871. The original construction
was of a single classroom with a two story cottage attached for the resident
teacher. The buildings were of flint with a slate roof and brick ‘dressing’
at all corners and around the windows and doors. It stood on half an acre of
ground adjacent to the vicarage (since demolished). A second classroom was added
in 1903 to accommodate infants under 5 as numbers had risen and children could
not be successfully taught in a single group any longer. The extension allowed
for 70 children, records show 35 attended.
Management
The school was let and managed by the Foundation Managers of Cavenham Public
Elementary School and the Education Authority. Their Managers’ Notebook
records the members of the committee, usually the incumbent vicar, landlord and
2 to 4 other residents of the village. The managers set holidays, dealt with
arrangements for cleaning, maintenance and heating and engaged the teachers over
the years. The education authorities made periodic inspections as did the
diocesan inspectors.
Resignation
Most of the notes deal with the very routine concerns of the practical
running of the school but some items do offer some insight into village life at
that time. Items of interest include raising the salary of the incumbent teacher
from £20 to £30 in July 1904, four months later she resigned citing continual
low pay and the loss of her garden and orchard which had helped to eke out her
salary previously. She also lamented the lack of desks and of equipment in
general. Her resignation was accepted and with the new teacher came new desks,
and plans to clean and paint all the buildings.
Diphtheria
In March of 1906 attention was drawn to the need for scrupulous disinfecting
and the generous use of lime wash as there was diptheria.
Punishment
In
June of 1908 a special meeting was convened to deal with a parent’s complaint
regarding his son’s canning for failure to do sums which had been set. The
managers requested that other forms of punishment be used in the future and that
all punishments be recorded in the punishment book. (not found). The Manager’s
Notebook records the dismissal of the Head Mistress in 1923 at a “reduced rate
of pension” with a reference about discipline of a child of one of the
managers (non specific). The balance of authority in this small village is again
reflected in another incident at the school, after several thefts the teacher
marked some money in her bag, on catching the culprits ‘red handed’ she felt
certain of her cause but to no avail as the parents stepped into the fray on the
side of the children.
Closure
In 1928 enrolment dropped to 16. Four of these were from Lark Hall Farm
located towards Higham. Accordingly plans were completed and the Lark Hall
children assigned to Higham school while the Cavenham children went to Tuddenham
school. Letters were sent out to notify parents officially and the school was
closed on March 31st 1929. The building was occupied by estate workers until it
went into private ownership in the 1950’s.
Recollections
The Firman
family moved in to the School House in 1928. Alan Firman then a young lad lived
with his parents, two brothers and two sisters. His father was the estate
bricklayer but supplemented his income by mending shoes, soldering kettles and
mending furniture. As a boy Alan recalls earning half a crown for taking a
gallon of milk up to the house twice a day and lighting the copper fire to
sterilize the milk buckets. The estate owned two Jersey cows especially for The
Hall’s milk supply. Alan earned another 6 pence, a mug of cocoa and a thick
slice of bread and jam for gardening Nellie Sangsters garden on Saturday
mornings. Nellie, who lived in a thatched cottage next to the post office (since
demolished) was, by all accounts, a women of charactor she would frighten all
the children by standing on the pavement and shouting at them. They daren’t
walk that way when she was out. She was also remembered for tying her cat to the
door handle of her cottage. Nellie would paint her ceilings with whiting which
came from the shop in a ball that had to be soaked in water overnight. Lumps of
whiting hung from the ceiling where it had not dissolved satisfactorily.
©2000 Marion Fitzgibbons