the BAWBURGH SCHOOL
1876 - 2008
January 2006. Following the official opening in December, the School Hall is in full use in the new term.
Victoria was on the throne, when Bawburgh School opened its doors on 27th March 1876. It flourished under the stern Headship of Frederick Jackson (1892 - 1925) but floundered during the Seventies and Eighties. When Mrs. Cindy Baldwin took over the Headship in 1987, there were only 37 pupils on the books - today there are 100.
Some background History: The School has been a vibrant and important part of the village for 125 years, since Ann Rix Carter was the first School Mistress. A succession of women were in charge of the school, for the first 16 years, but when Frederick Jackson arrived on the 1st August 1892, it was the start of very different era, as two long-standing Headmasters would in turn take control of the school for the next 62 years. Previously, discipline and attendance had been poor, and when the school was examined in Arithmetic and Dictation on 15th September 1892, they were found "throughout to be in a very bad state". The number of pupils had risen from 54 to 77, from 1876 to 1892, and when Frederick Jackson retired in 1925, and handed the reins over to "Jack" Steed, there were around 80 on the registers. Mr. Arthur J Steed was remembered as a much easier and kinder headmaster, although the school still suffered from absences through illness and through the children working on the farms. From 1901, for a period of 30 years, the assistant teacher was Miss Charlotte Child - daughter of the family at the Mill. She had her own house built near the bridge - now known as Meadowview. Another stalwart assistant was Mrs. Mona Sewter, who came temporarily, and stayed 25 years, finally retiring in 1984, assisting four Heads in all. During Mr. Steed's headship, the school and village endured another World War, and the Log book describes gas mask drills, badly nourished children and increased numbers of evacuee pupils. Post-war, a variety of school outings could be added to the curriculum. Upon Mr. Steed's retirement in 1954, the school lost its older pupils to the new Costessey Secondary Modern School, although soon the nearby Marlingford school would close, and pupils merged. Inadequate space and pupil numbers were major problems throughout the 20th Century. When the School celebrated its Centenary in 1976, there were over 60 pupils, which level was to decline to 27 in 1983. Thanks to a strong parent association, which campaigned for the continuation of the village school, Bawburgh School was saved, and from thence grew from strength to strength, with pupil numbers today around 100. Current head, Mrs. Cindy Baldwin took over in 1987, and has steered the school through great growth. A new classroom in addition to the one added in 1959, has been added to the Victorian building, to replace a 1960s mobile, and even as recently as when School returned in September 1994, they were celebrating indoor toilets and a new tarmac-ed playground! So popular has the school become across a wide area, that there is a waiting list, and many pupils travel long distances - creating problems of traffic in the village at school times, which could never have been anticipated in 1876! But the comforting sound of children playing still wafts across the river at break-time.
100 years ago. Early 20th Century Bawburgh School.
Headmaster, Frederick Jackson, left. Assistant teacher, Charlotte Child, right.
As part of a new series in Bawburgh News
ICONIC BUILDINGS
OF BAWBURGHBAWBURGH SCHOOL features to co-incide with its 132nd anniversary in March 2008
Such mammoth changes have been made to this icon, since the School opened 132 years ago this month, that we wonder just what Miss Ann Carter the first Headmistress would think. She had few luxuries to aid the education of her original 54 pupils and indeed little help by way of other teachers. There was no heating, light or indoor toilets. Central heating did not arrive until the Sixties and indoor toilets as recently as 1994. The original building is still used (see left above), but there have been major extensions over the years, the last one only two years ago; the new hall (to the right of the picture) adding to the status of The Bawburgh School, which it is now known as. It has been a stable village icon through those 132 years—non more so than when the Jacksons (1892-1925) not only lived in the Schoolhouse, but were attributed with the improvement of conditions and the education of their charges, who had grown in number to 77, in spite of attendance/truancy being a continuing problem. There was a fence to enable the schoolhouse privacy, and there was an extension built during the “Harvest Holidays” of 1905—just after Norfolk County Council had become responsible for its upkeep. Pupil numbers remained about the same during this time, reaching 88 in 1919, but as time went on it needed 19 evacuees to boost numbers in 1939 and 8 travellers in 1978 to boost the roll. Then, by the time Mrs. Baldwin arrived twenty years ago in September 1987, pupil numbers had dropped to 36……With a present pupil tally of 100, the rest, as they say, Is History!!