THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND THE 'NEW SCHOOL'

Under the New Code of 1871, every school in receipt of a government grant was compelled to keep a diary or log book. The regulations required this to be 'stoutly bound and contain not less than 500 ruled pages'. The principal teacher was to enter the normal progress of the school at least once each week and no entry was to be removed or deleted. The log book was subject to examination by the inspector and his reports were to be copied into it verbatim. On 16th June 1871, H.M.I. Legard Esq. visited the school and suggested that it should be placed under inspection and application made to the Education Department for an annual grant. He wrote 'The attainments of the children are very fair, the writing being especially creditable'. By far the most numerous entries in the earliest Norton Free School log book are those concerned with attendance, which constituted one of the conditions for the payment of the grant.

With the development of Sheffield's industry, much of the working of iron and steel carried on in Norton had moved into the town, leaving a mainly agricultural community. Children were kept at home from school to help on the farms and during the week before the main holidays of the year, girls had to stay at home to help with the extra cleaning that needed to be done. Absences of this nature decreased after Lord Sandon's Act of 1876 when the employment of children under the age of 10 became illegal and parents were held responsible for ensuring their education. A fine of 20 shillings per offence could be imposed. Certain concessions were made to schools in rural areas when children of 11 and over could be employed in agriculture from June to September provided they had passed the Standard V examinations, and held a certificate from the schoolmaster proving that they had attended 250 half-day school sessions between October and May. The schoolmaster was Mr. Joseph Birtles who served for a time as church warden at Norton Church. In March 1877, he distributed handbills explaining the new regulations and 'requiring the regular attendance of the children.' The grant for children in church schools was increased under the same act and Mr. Francis Westby Bagshawe expressed satisfaction with the grant of 16s.8d (about 83p) per head, on one of his regular visits to the school.

Francis was the son and successor of William John Bagshawe at The Oakes and grandson of Sir William. He was married on 21st October 1873 to Miss C.A. Godwin Austen of Shalford and on 24th October the log book entry reads, 'That evening, the children, to the number of 73, had an excellent tea in honour of Mr. Bagshawe's marriage. Afterwards (they) were entertained by a magic lantern concluding with fireworks.' Some weeks later on 4th December, 'Mr. and Mrs. Bagshawe returned to The Oakes this day and, being publickly received by their tennantry, the children had a holiday and headed the procession singing school songs.'

Mr. Bagshawe was a manager and sole trustee of the school and visited regularly entering his comments in the log book. His mother, who died three years after his marriage, had given an annual tea to the girls of the school and presented prizes for attendance and good conduct. His wife took a great interest in the girls' needlework and in March 1879 held the first annual sale of children's sewing. This was confined to the mothers of children attending the school who afterwards sat down to a substantial tea, kindly provided by Mrs. Bagshawe.

The average attendance at the school was in the region of 70 and the Inspector's reports began to show concern regarding the education of the infant children. In 1874, it was recommended that they should be taught in a separate room by a young assistant mistress and withdrawal of part of the grant was threatened if no action were taken. This criticism rumbled on until the 'new' school was opened in 1895 and successive schoolmasters took what action they could to alleviate the situation. Mr. Birtles' daughter, Ellen, was appointed to the post of assistant teacher which met with the approval of the inspector. She and her sister were put in charge of the school during their father's absences through illness and they did not appear to have had any difficulty keeping order, 'one boy only being complained of for being disobedient.'

The catchment area was a large one with scattered farms and cottages and many children had long distances to walk to school so it was not suprising that inclement weather conditions influenced attendance. The school was often closed owing to heavy falls of snow and in wet weather, the few children who did struggle to school were often sent home again because they were wet through, and the registers were not marked. On one occasion in 1890, an assistant inspector visited the school unexpectedly and found the registers unmarked for two days. The first day there had been a poor. attendance of 54 out of an average of 80 and the Master explained that on the second day, only 6 children had arrived at school and so had been sent home. Had these figures been entered on the school return, the average yearly attendance would have been affected and the grant would have been less. The Inspector gathered from other entries in the log book that this was not the first time that the registers had remained unmarked when the attendance was small and pointed out that this practice 'renders the returns for the year valueless as a basis upon which the Annual Grant can be calculated and may involve the entire loss of Grant for the current year'. There is no record that the threat was carried out but this incident illustrates how important attendance numbers were and how strictly the regulations were enforced.

Joseph Birtles left the school on 25th May 1883 after 18 years as Master and Mr. Bagshawe visited the school and spoke to the children about the change that was taking place. Mr. Herbert Marples, schoolmaster, took up his appointment on 4th June, and on 27th April 1885 Mrs. Marples commenced duties as sewing mistress, Anne Fielding as candidate pupil teacher and Henry Birtles as stipendiary monitor. Tragically, Mrs. Marples died suddenly on 11th June and the school was closed for a week. Mr. Marples became seriously ill the following March but in spite of this, he attended school and although he was unable to teach, he was able to superintend for part of each day. When he was too ill to attend school Joseph Atkin was appointed temporary master on 9th April. Mr. Marples died on 16th April and this sad news caused much grief both among the scholars and teachers. During his time the school had been painted and cleaned, the floor partially re-laid, spoutings attached to the school and 'sundry other repairs attended to.' The old teacher's desk, said to have been made by Sir Francis Chantrey's father had been replaced by a new one and new desks had been provided for the children .

After Mr. Marples' death, Joseph Atkin's position as master was made permanent. In addition to the 3 'R's', History, Geography and Religious Education, which was diligently taught by the local clergy and examined by the Diocesan Inspectors, the curriculum was widening to include needlework, drawing and singing as examinable subjects which attracted grants.

The needlework syllabus included practical skills such as turning up a hem, and the patching or darning of garments. Knitting seems to have been confined to the making of socks and stockings and 'turning the heel' must have been quite difficult for the children. Materials were provided by the school for the needlework examination which was to last for 45-60 minutes and the children were given certain tasks to complete in the time. A circular was issued by the Department of Education warning teachers not to 'pre-form' materials for the examination for example, not to turn up a hem for a child to sew. With the interest shown by Mrs. Bagshawe, needlework at Norton Free School was probably more enjoyable than indicated by the examination syllabus.

The children were invited to The Oakes in 1890 for a sports day held in the grounds. Prizes were awarded to the successful competitors and in the evening, they gathered in front of the Hall and the Misses Bagshawe (Muriel and Gladys, daughters of Francis Westby and his wife) presented 'valuable and most useful prizes for sewing and knitting done during the year. 20 boys also received books as prizes for knitting'. After the prize giving, Mr. Bagshawe spoke very highly of the work done at the school and expressed his confidence in Mr. Atkin and his wife, who was a teacher at the school for many years.

The drawing examinations were held in the month preceding the annual inspection and the categories were :- drawing to scale, freehand, geometry, perspective and model. The first examination of this nature at Norton Free was in 1884.

For the examinations in singing, the Inspectors were given several titles of songs that the children could sing. In 1877 it was 4 for infants to be sung by ear and 8 for the older scholars to be sung by 'ear and notes'. At the examinations, the infants were asked to sing 1 or 2 songs and at least two thirds of the older scholars were asked to sing 2 songs. Mr. Birtles was teaching the children to sing from notes in 1873 and a list of 8 songs for the examinations are listed in the log book in 1886.

As Mr. Atkin was the choirmaster at Norton Church, the singing at Norton Free must have been of a high standard.

Instruction in elementary science was represented by the Object Lessons for Infants which was regarded as a means of developing the pupils' powers of observation. The list for the year 1883 at Norton ran as follows:

Repetition for Infants in the same time table included the following:-

The following year the Inspector recommended suitable tables for the infants 'to lay sticks, build with cubes, thread beads and fold coloured papers.'

The Inspector's report of 1886 expressed concern at the overcrowded conditions in the schoolroom and suggested in the strongest possible terms that the infants should be taught elsewhere until a suitable classroom could be built for them. Mr. Atkin put Miss F.M. Birtles, a pupil teacher in her 3rd year, in charge of the infants and standard I.

For many years, the schoolroom had also been used for parochial activities such as Sunday School, social teas and entertainments, and sewing meetings etc. but it was felt that it was no longer adequate for the needs of the parish. Part of the parish glebe land had been chosen as the site for a new schoolroom in 1888 but building was delayed for several years pending the consent of the Charity Commissioners, which was necessary before the site of the school could be changed.

At the same time, the Inspector was becoming increasingly concerned about the overcrowded school and in particular, the state of the 'offices' or toilets. The doors opened into a yard to which it was possible for members of the public to gain access, which was most unsatisfactory.

In a special report on the school premises in 1893, the Inspector stated, 'they are inconvenient and unsuitable, unprovided with playground, in bad repair, ill lighted, ill ventilated.'

It seems that Mr. Atkin was constantly trying to placate the inspectors in order to safeguard the grant during the delay. A new drain was laid in the toilets, they were whitewashed and locks were fitted to the yard doors. The schoolroom was thoroughly cleaned, the walls were colour washed and the windows painted.

It is evident from letters written by Mr. Bagshawe to the vicar of Norton, Rev. George Walker-Hall, and to the architect, Mr. Withers, that he was very active in safeguarding the school's endowments which, under the trusteeship and management of his family, had been considerably augmented and now formed two thirds of the school's income. He took a great interest in the erection of the new school building and made suggestions about the type of stone that should be used. In November 1893, he visited the new school site. The foundations were begun and he was most disappointed to find the dimensions of the room so small and, in his opinion, quite unable to accommodate 120-130 children. Work was suspended and as a direct result of his intervention, the school managers were asked to consider the possibility of erecting a larger building than the one which had previously been planned. They had no objection provided that an extra £600 could be raised. The plan received enthusiastic support from both inside and outside the parish and building began in April. The room was to be 8ft longer and 8ft wider than the old schoolroom with the addition of a classroom, cloakrooms etc. It was hoped that it could be opened in December 1894 but the weather had been so damp that the concrete floor had not dried out sufficiently for the wood blocks to be laid. Again in January 1895 the formal opening of the new room as a day school was postponed for 'unavoidable reasons.' In the meantime at the old schoolroom, a heavy fall of snow in January had a 'detrimental effect upon the ceiling.' Mr. Fielding, one of the managers, inspected it and the infant class was moved to the north end of the room for safety. It seems that the new building would be ready just in time.

The first function to be held there was the Vicar's annual tea party for church workers on 23rd January. About 200 parishioners sat down for tea and many more arrived for the musical entertainment which followed, organised by Mr. Atkin.

The new school was finally opened on Thursday 18th April and on 22nd, after the Easter vacation, the children and teachers returned to their brand new school. What an exciting day that must have been! Mr. and Mrs. Bagshawe visited the school the following day and reported the highest attendance ever recorded of 104. They found there was sufficient furniture to meet all requirements. In May, additional pictures and a new blackboard and easel, bar bells for drill and additional ball frames for counting, were supplied for the infants and wall maps were hung in the large room. A Grand Concert was given, the proceeds of which (about £5) were to be put towards the cost of a new platform to be added to the school furniture. A year after the opening, a school clock was presented by Mr. James Andrew of Hemsworth.

The staff in addition to the Master comprised Mrs. Atkin (certified teacher), Miss Birtles and Alice Watts, 4th year pupil teacher.

Harold Armitage in his book 'Chantreyland' viewed the move from a romantic rather than a practical standpoint. 'Frequenters of the village hear not now the murmurs that they used to hear as they strolled past on a summer afternoon when, with the doors locked and windows open, the lads and lasses droned their lessons, longing for the time when they might burst out with wild shouts.

The children of Norton are at the new school now, and though probably the change had become necessary, yet would most people be touched to see the old room, once so full of vivid life, looking so desolate without fire, without light, without songs, its doors fast closed and all its windows broken. I came here after it had been abandoned to look again at the place, but by that time, my ears asked in vain for the accustomed murmurs and cheerful commotion and there was more than a hint of sadness in the silence that prevailed.

When not a single child remained, it is easy to imagine there would be a feeling of melancholy as the key was turned upon the empty, silent schoolroom at the end of the last afternoon upon which the school was used.'

The old school house was pulled down in 1953. A newspaper cutting from the Sheffield Telegraph, 19th December 1953 stated that the old school-house at Norton, Sheffield 'which Norton-born Sir Francis Chantrey attended as a boy is being demolished to make way for house building.

The roof is off and the doorway through which 6-year old Frank Chantrey went to his lessons will soon be no more, though the stone tablet overhead will be preserved.'

In 1881, the Education Department sent out a circular to schools regarding the formation of school savings banks to encourage thrift. They stated, The general adoption of some such plan will greatly increase the usefulness of the Elementary Schools as instruments for the formation of character'. A bank was opened in connection with Norton Free School in August 1895. Mr. Bagshawe acted as treasurer and the money was deposited in the Sheffield Savings Bank.

A tragic happening later that year was the death of Mr. & Mrs. Atkins' youngest child and the school was closed for a week. Another sadness was the death of Mr. Francis Westby Bagshawe on 28th April 1896 aged 64. He had worked very hard on behalf of the school for many years and would be sadly missed. His daughters, Muriel and Gladys Bagshawe had presented prizes for attendance and good conduct since 1888 and continued to do so. They visited the school in 1897 to invite all the children to tea in Oakes Park to celebrate the coming of age of the elder Miss Bagshawe on Friday 16th July. Each child was presented with a mug in commemoration of the occasion and the children presented Miss Muriel Bagshawe with a riding whip as a token of their esteem. The following year Miss Muriel Bagshawe took over her father's position as manager.

Children were punished for playing truant, for insubordination, molesting smaller children, for fighting on their way home from school, throwing stones and several boys were cautioned for trespassing on their way to school. A Department of Education circular went round to schools urging teachers to dissuade children from throwing stones at the earthenware insulators on telegraph wires which was becoming a 'serious public evil' and the Post Office had warned that they would prosecute in cases of wilful damage. The practice was 'not confined to the so-called roughs and idlers of the district, much mischief is also done by schoolboys.'

Mr. Atkin must have been most concerned in 1891 about his school and to add to his problems, he was assaulted and threatened by the village blacksmith, after he had given the blacksmith's son one stroke of the stick for molesting a younger boy outside the school. His case was taken up by the National Union of Teachers and the defendant was ordered to pay £2 plus costs. This experience did not deter Mr. Atkin as, a year later, he again punished the blacksmith's son and another boy for molesting a peddler during the dinner hour.

The children were given half-day holidays on Shrove Tuesday, 5th November and after their secular and religious inspections and examinations.

The school was also closed for Norton Agricultural Show and ploughing matches in the district. A half holiday was given on Empire Day after the Master had addressed the children on their 'duties of citizenship', and events which have now passed into history were commemorated by school holidays.

The first of these was the Parliamentary Elections of 1885. In subsequent years, the school was closed on 18th June 1887 for four days so that the children could attend the celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. On 20th the commemoration began with a short service at the Chantrey Monument at 1.30p.m. and all children who attended Sunday school and day school and also those resident in the parish and under the age of 14 were given tea and presented with a Jubilee mug.

The next Royal event to be celebrated was the wedding of the Duke of York to Princess Mary of Teck (the future King George V and Queen Mary) on 6th July 1893 and the children were 'bountifully entertained' by Mr. and Mrs. Bagshawe at The Oakes. All the schoolchildren in the parish were presented with medals in honour of the occasion. The school was again closed when the Duke of York visited Sheffield in 1895 and on 21st June 1897 for two days in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. On 22nd the children of the parish under the age of 14 were 'regaled with a good plain tea'. Wednesday 24th May 1899 was the Queen's eightieth birthday and although not a school holiday, Mrs. Bagshawe gave the children tea at Oakes Park and attendance prizes were presented by the Misses Bagshawe. Two days were set aside in June 1902 to celebrate the Coronation of King Edward VII but as he was taken seriously ill, the Coronation and all the festivities were postponed. He visited Sheffield in 1905 and the children were given a holiday. The Coronation took place in 1911 and the school was closed for a week.

Not a Royal occasion, but a cause for great celebration was the Relief of Mafeking and the children were given a day's holiday on 21st May 1900. The Rev. H.H. Pearson, son of the Rev. H. Pearson and vicar of Norton, since 1844, had been a very regular visitor to the school over the years and gave a farewell address to the children in 1888 as he was leaving the parish. His successor was Rev. George Walker-Hall and the children were given a half holiday so that they and the choir boys, together with Mr. Atkin, school and choirmaster, could attend his wedding at Norton Church. The school was closed on several occasions when Mr. Atkin was taking the choir to sing in festivals at Chesterfield, Sheffield or Southwell and on the days of the choir outings.

The log book clearly shows the improvement in medical care for school-children. Rather poignant entries were made in the early years - 'Mary Ann Allen, 5 years, died of a fever after less than a week's illness', and 'the Master attended the funeral of Elizabeth and Herbert Lowe who had been scholars for 3 years. They had attended school as usual the last week and were taken ill and died suddenly, Elizabeth on the Friday, and Herbert on the Sunday night. The sudden event cast a gloom over the school.'

The school was quite often closed during epidemics of infectious diseases. In 1887, during an outbreak of scarlet fever, Mr. Bagshawe requested that all children from fever districts should stay at home and when scarletina was rife in 1898, Dr. A.K. Gale, the Medical Officer of Health, visited the school, to be followed 3 days later by the Sanitary Inspector, who examined all suspicious cases and sent several children home. The school was closed for 5 weeks and was thoroughly disinfected.

Medical inspection of children at this time was carried out only through voluntary effort. However, Rachel and Margaret McMillan had begun their pioneering work in the provision of a school medical service. Sir Robert Morant, the permanent Secretary of the Board of Education was so impressed by the work of the McMillan sisters that he consulted Margaret before deciding upon the details of the School's Medical Service set out in the Education Act of 1907 which instituted a compulsory system of medical inspection in elementary schools.

The first inspection under the new act at Norton Free School was made in July 1909 when Dr. A.K. Gale held a medical inspection of the 5-year old children and also those about to leave school. This became an annual event and from 1912, they were supplemented by visits from the Education Authority Nurse. In 1913 'Nurse Wilkinson visited the school and inspected the children's heads. Several suspicious cases of ringworm were noted and hair sent to Derby.' The first mention of the inspection of children's teeth was in 1918.

A feature of the 1890's was the increasing attention given to games and physical exercise. The children were given a half-holiday for the first Elementary School Sports held at Bramall Lane Grounds in 1890. There were 5 competitors from Norton Free School, 2 of whom won prizes. This became an annual event.

The first Elementary Schools Football Association was inaugurated in London in 1885 and was the beginning of a national movement. By 1895, nearly every large town had a school organisation for the promotion of football and cricket. The log book entry for 27th November 1889 reads:- 'Good progress has been made of late owing to the exceptionally good attendance which may be accounted for by the interest taken in the Clegg Challenge Shield Football Competition', and matches became an integral part of school life. Permission was given by Miss Bagshawe for them to play in Oakes Park and a Football Club in connection with the school was formed in 1901.

Mr. H. Smith who lived in Canada was an old boy of Norton Free School and used to visit the school regularly on his visits to England. In 1972 he wrote down some of his recollections of his school-days at Norton at the turn of the century:-

'I seem to be one of the few at that time who would like to have continued with education but in those days parents for the most part were looking forward to you to be a little help in bringing home money to help keep the fire burning. Mr. Atkin and his wife were teachers, also Miss Watts and Miss Smith from Greenhill. At exam times, Miss Smith would say 'I don't understand you, you fail in some exams and you are so good all through the school year.'

They were all lovely teachers and I enjoyed all the years. I never remember being absent and still have prizes by the Misses Bagshawe.

I started school in March 1898.1 was bom 23rd August 1894. I was not quite 4 years of age. There were three parts in the school - infants, Standard I to III and Standards IV to VII classes. When an occasion of visitation occurred, the room with the classes I to VII were made into one room by pulling the centre partition to one end of the building. This also happened when we had singing periods."

The Inspector had suggested in 1899 that a partition would 'much facilitate work', and the following year a new curtain was placed across the main room to be replaced by a wood and glass partition in 1905.

Mr. Smith continues;- 'With being so young, I was delayed in the infant room and also in Standard I. The children from some homes were well dressed but the majority were in clothing that was patched but as the years went along, most children were quite neat. Mother used to comb our hair with a small tooth comb every night and sometimes would find something. Makes me wonder how things go these days with so much long hair. There were many children from farms, farm labourers' children, file cutters' children. My father was a journeyman tailor and had a building near the house.

There was a girls' playground and a boys'. We played all kinds of games according to age, marbles, tag and the older boys football with a small ball. In the Summer we played cricket outside the playground. I only remember playing against another school once and that was against Greenhill School and the game was played in what is now Graves Park. The attendance at school, if I remember, varied from 90 to over 100.

Most children stayed at school, lunch time, having brought dinner with them, which mainly consisted of jam sandwiches.

Several times I would get into trouble at noon. I would have what we called a paper chase and I would lead the boys through Hemsworth, down Lightwood Lane, through the woods to Coal Aston, over the fields and out at Jordanthorpe, up Norton Lane and past the Church to school. I generally got in school before the bell went and for 5 or 10 minutes after, the boys would be returning. When all were in, Mr. Atkin would call me out. I would get 6 strokes with the cane over my hand. Mr. Rhodes lived at the Post Office. He was school inspector, or 'bobby' as we used to call him. His daughter went Norton School.'