Extracts from "The Halesonian"
Pictures from the Archives
Halesowen Grammar School Magazine 1908-1919
"The Halesonian" was
the HGS school magazine and it started at about the time that Mr
Dickinson was appointed as headmaster in 1904. For some years it
appeared as often as three times a year but after several years
it became irregular though never less than once a year. Not all
copies have survived in the school archives for the period we are
concerned with and it is most unlikely that a complete sequence
will ever be found. So we must pick out parts that are of special
interest to us insofar as they shed some light on the life of the
four Bradshaw children who attended, especially Neville Bradshaw,
our headmaster.
Those parts in bold face are direct quotations from The
Halesonian; the rest is comment.
The HGS archives also contain a number of old photographs,
some showing NRB himself, taken with plate cameras. Most of them
are sepia-toned and quite high definition. Where possible these
photos have been used to illustrate the extracts from, and
commentary on, The Halesonian.
October 1908
Speech Day in the New School Building
This issue was
the first edition of The Halesonian to appear after the new
school building was officially opened in May 1908. The
frontispiece of this edition is a photo of the new assembly hall
showing the stained glass window at the north end. The window is
still there in 2003 but the assembly hall is now part of the
school library.
Most of the contents of the magazine are reports of events in
the previous term concerning speech day, school sports, cricket
and swimming. Curiously there seems very little about the new
buildings as such, apart from a comment from Viscount Cobham,
chairman of the governors, in his speech about the need for
neatness and general care of the school buildings and furniture.
"Alas, no longer can illustrious patronymics be carved by
future Prime Ministers, . . . ". Heaven help anyone caught
carving their initials on the new desk-tops!
From the report of the speech day in July and the report on
the sports day it would seem that the school was already
partially coeducational. Prizes were awarded to forms VA, VB,
IVA, IVB, III, II and I. Given the small number of pupils, about
120, the classes would have been about 15 to 20 in size.
The examination results reported were quite modest by later
standards but it has to be remembered that examination
performance was not considered very important in those days,
except for a few children with professional career prospects.
There is a report of the Old Boys Association, which was
relatively new and small, but active. Its main functions were of
a social nature and provided support for the Old Boys' soccer
team - much like the Old Lewesians Association in the early
1930s.
NRB Joins the School
A key item from our point of view is a short paragraph that
names the new boys (16) and girls (14) who had just started at
the school in September 1908. There we find one "Bradshaw" who
was in fact NRB aged 12. By 1908 there were several free places
awarded on merit to local children paid for by Worcestershire and
Staffordshire County Councils. It is possible that NRB had won
such a place from his village school at Knowle which was just
over the border in Staffordshire about three miles from
Halesowen.
The 1908 School Photo
The headmaster, Mr Dickinson, about whom much will be said
later, had been in post four years at this time. A group photo
was taken that autumn, 1908, with the headmaster, staff and
children posed informally in front of the assembly hall stained
glass window. A copy of this photo survives in the school
archives and is reproduced here. There are 137 pupils and staff
in the photo, about 125 being pupils.
Mr Dickinson is near the left end in
his gown. Other members of staff can be seen scattered among the
pupils. The young Bradshaw can just be picked out slightly to the
right of centre. To make it easier we show a magnified portion of
the image showing NRB wearing the wide Eton collar worn by
schoolboys in Edwardian days. This is the earliest photograph of
him that we have.
Although the building had been completed and opened in May
1908, there were presumably many details to finish, as with most
building projects. You may be able to see a painter through the
window at the right wearing a long white apron, his face partly
hidden by the bars.
The Three Muses
The central panels of the stained glass window in the 1908
Assembly Hall shows three female figures (the Modern Muses?)
representing Mechanics, Commerce and Science which reflects the
concern of the times in that part of the country, by those who
had influence on policy, of the needs of British industry. In
this type of grammar school the expectation was that practically
all of the pupils would be employed in the management of local
industry. The window was paid for by the Hingley family of
Netherton who owned the factory that made the anchors and chains
for the Titanic and other great ships.
This school was no academic hothouse for classical scholars
destined for the ancient universities and the higher reaches of
the Civil Service. It was there to service the needs of local
industry and commerce. But the headmaster was wise enough to
realise that some pupils would go on to higher education at
university from time to time.
School Plays
Later in the magazine a notice announces that the school play,
traditionally put on just before Christmas, is to be "As you like
it". As will be seen later, the school, though small, put great
emphasis on amateur theatricals and concerts. In later years NRB
appeared in most of them and this may well have been one of the
reasons he was so keen to carry on the tradition at LCGS.
December 1908
The magazine carries reports of the many activities involved
in putting on the first school play in the new school building.
Constructing a stage in the new hall is a major concern and
required much carpentry. Besides that and rehearsals there are
reports on debates and school football matches. The Old
Halesonians' soccer team seems to have played matches in the
local league every Saturday and had considerable local
support.
There are reports on the girls' hockey team, which flourished
in spite of the relatively small numbers of girls at that time,
so much so that the magazine carries a limerick.
There was an Old School at H---s---n
Where the pupils ne'er did any s-w--g
The hockey field there
With none could compare
For the grass did not need any m-w--g.
February 1910
Prize Day
In the account of prize day (perhaps this was thought to be a
more interesting title than speech day) on 3 December 1909, Lord
and Lady Cobham were, as usual, the principal dignitaries. Among
the various successes the headmaster reported that they had
succeeded in getting a pupil through the London Matriculation for
the first time.
After the usual exhortations from the platform the prizes were
distributed and we note that N.Bradshaw was awarded the 2nd prize
for form IIIB. The named forms in
the prize list are II, IIIB,
IIIA,
IVB,
IVA, and V.
In the higher reaches of the school (it did not yet boast a
sixth form as such) one boy passed the Oxford Senior exam and
another gained matriculation at Birmingham (as would NRB five
years later).
NRB makes his Debut
The magazine carries an extensive account of the school play
put on for two evenings in December 1909. This was "A Midsummer
Night's Dream" complete with the musical parts of the play.
Everyone in it appears gets a mention and half way through the
plaudits we find
"Nor must we forget to mention the marked ability and success
of Bradshaw as Puck." He was thirteen years old.
September 1910
Sports
This edition looks back to the summer's activities giving
accounts of hockey and sports day. NRB does not appear among the
many results, which is perhaps no surprise. It was not an
activity in which he excelled. However, we find a reference to C.
Bradshaw coming second in the 60 yards girls' race. This is
Cicely, or Cissey as she was called by the family, whose name
also appears in the headmaster's report to the governors as being
a winner of a free place at the school - following in her
brother's path. She was two years younger than NRB.
The accounts of the summer's cricket, giving the results of
matches against local grammar schools such as Stourbridge,
Kidderminster, and Dudley also show that the school fielded a
girls' cricket team which played four such matches. The Bradshaws
are not mentioned in this context.
There are also accounts of inter-house cricket matches. From
this we see that there were four houses named Cobham (Lord Cobham
was the local big-wig and chairman of the governors) , Hingley,
Shenstone and Abbey (there is a ruined abbey at Halesowen). So
did the idea of four competing houses at LCGS come from this
example?
Swimming
Mention is made of the
swimming competition held at the Halesowen Baths. In earlier
years it had been the custom for local people to bathe in the
open-air cooling pond of the electricity generating plant of a
local factory. The owner of this factory, who was a school
governor, allowed the boys from the school to use it freely -
others paid a small charge. By all accounts the water was full of
wildlife of various types and something of a hazard to
health.
At some later date the factory owner, Walter Somers, closed
his generating plant and converted the old pond into a proper
outdoor swimming lido of considerable size for the use of the
local inhabitants. These were the Halesowen Baths where the
school competition was held in 1910.
We shall see later that in early 1914 the headmaster, Mr
Dickinson, resolved to build a school swimming bath and began
excavation. The effort and ingenuity required in the construction
process must have dulled the brains of those organising this
project. For some unaccountable reason the need for an adequate
supply of water had been completely overlooked. At some point
after the foundation had been dug and the concrete base laid
somebody realised that a bath without its own copious water
supply would look pretty silly and immediate steps were taken to
find an adjacent spring as a source . They dug and dug and ne'er
a drop was found. Red faces all round! The "swimming bath"
foundations stood unused for many years to remind everyone,
including the headmaster, of the need to "think ahead"! This
white elephant was eventually covered by foundations of the
school extensions built in 1931. The school never did have its
own pool.
What is surprising is that this lesson was not passed on to
Neville Bradshaw or that he forgot. In the 1930s he organised the
building of the swimming pool at Lewes without first making
certain that an adequate and affordable water supply was
available. As is recounted in Barbican No 6 "The Building of the
Place of Swimminge" and in "Alma Mater" the pool was
finished before searching for water. At one time it looked as
though the whole enterprise would be yet another considerable
embarrassment. Water was eventually discovered but it was not a
copious supply, which is why the water was not changed often and
was usually green and tepid rather than clear and cold.
Dr. Thompson - Science Master
A small note in this
edition records that Dr. K. J. Thompson had left the school for a
new appointment as science master at Pontefract Grammar School.
From other records in the archives we learn more of this
gentleman. For a small grammar school he must have been a rara
avis. He had picked up several scientific degrees at British
universities and then spent several years in Leipzig in Germany
where he acquired a Ph.D. He then returned to Great Britain and
spent several years at Halesowen as the science master. He
appears in several photos of sports teams as a short stocky
figure in cap and tweed jacket in the fashion of the time. In
those days the openings for highly qualified scientists were
limited. There were few universities and not a great deal of
industrial research. The boom in scientific research was still
many decades away. Teaching was often the preferred career for
the best qualified science graduates.
A Sixth Form
This 1910 edition has a small section with letters to the
editor. One such was a request from a fifth former asking for a
sixth form to be created next year and the answer, from the
editor, checked with the Headmaster one presumes, is "We hope
so, and that you will be in it." If that was the case then
the sixth form was established a year or so ahead of NRB's entry
to it.
December 1912
Oxford Local Results
The results for external examinations are given. These would
be the equivalent of HSC and SC, or in later terminology O and A
levels.
In the senior section the results are graded in 1st, 2nd, 3rd
class honours and Pass. Four boys were in the first class and one
of these is accredited as "Excused Responsions at Oxford
University" although no mention is made of him going up to
Oxford. In the second class there is one pupil , two in the third
and 11 passes. With 18 taking the higher level examination it is
clear that the sixth form was growing rapidly.
In the junior examination, equivalent to O level, there are 20
in total: one in the first class, one in the second, five in the
third and 13 passes. In the third class we find the name
Bradshaw. On this evidence alone it would seem that he was not an
outstandingly clever young man at that stage of his development.
But then, brilliance at 16 is not necessarily a good indicator of
later achievement.
The Literary and Debating Society
The reports on this school activity is prominent in most of
the editions of The Halesonian. It seems to had been popular and
well attended. The programme ran various activities from formal
debates to play-reading. NRB's name appears occasionally - such
as the time he voted against the motion "That in the opinion
of the House girls have more personal vanity than boys",
which was defeated by a small margin. A later debate on the
motion "That in the opinion of this House War is a thing
undesirable and unnecessary" provoked a lot of interest.
Presumably the political tensions on the continent and on the
high seas could be felt quite keenly even at this level. Neville
spoke against the motion. At some point an amendment was proposed
"That War is a thing undesirable but necessary" and was
carried by a majority of nine.
Shooting
During the summer terms some of the boys were involved in
shooting contests against other grammar schools. The rifles were
probably owned by the Territorials and kept at the Drill Hall
adjacent to Lower School. It is very likely that some of them
were of very ancient origin for in a match on the ranges in
Sutton Park (a large area of open country on the other side of
Birmingham) they had to "use the service rifle with ball
ammunition, which was new to us".
December 1913
A Cadet Force
In the editor's round-up of the year we find that "We
wanted a Cadet Corps. We didn't get it for several reasons . . .
" but the reasons are not given. So with the Great War only
eight months away officialdom had decided that such frivolities
could not be countenanced. They were to change their tune when
the war began.
Speech Day
From the headmaster's report on speech day we discover that
building works had taken place. The old Lower School had been
converted into a dining room, gymnasium and manual training room
(?) and the new headmaster's house on the hill above the school
had been completed. The number of pupils was 155 - the same as in
the previous year - one third of whom came from over the
Staffordshire border. He was pleased by the quality of the
Debating Society and a new Scientific Society had been formed.
The chairman, Lord Cobham, made some forceful remarks about the
evil of parents removing their children from the school at the
age of 14 or 15. It did not give sufficient time for the benefits
of secondary education. Old habits died hard in the Black
Country.
In the Oxford Local results we see that Neville Bradshaw had
achieved a straight pass in some part of the Senior
Examination.
In the speech by the principal speaker, the chairman of
Staffordshire Education Committee, he said that the school was
heavily handicapped by the lack of scholarships to any
university. If any persons were disposed to provide such
scholarships, they could not spend their money in a better way.
Should England ever fail, he said, it would be owing to lack of
means for the development of brainpower. Such a comment from the
chairman of one of the two education committees that funded the
school is clear evidence that local authorities in 1913 did not
themselves provide grants for university students and had no
plans to do so. Neville Bradshaw and his parents would have been
under no illusions that university education would not be
subsidised by the state, local authority or school. Apart from a
few scholarships from charities it was all down to family funding
- a formidable obstacle.
The Debating Society
In this report on the society's activities we find that the
new secretary is - Neville Bradshaw!
To accommodate the number of members the meetings were held in
the greater comfort of the new dining hall. In the first debate
they discussed a motion on the benefit that would come from
"the present Channel Tunnel construction". This attracted
almost 100 members, nearly all of whom wanted to speak. The
debate eventually had to be terminated and the motion was lost
55-33. Little did they know it would be another 80 years before
such a project would come to fruition.
"On Thursday, October 23rd 1913 a meeting of the Debating
Society was held, when the house assembled to discuss the subject
of corporal punishment. Bradshaw upholded that corporal
punishment was beneficial, while B. Abbiss opposed the motion.
The debate was not so good as usual, as there were not so many
members present, and fewer took an active part in the
debate."
In the event the motion was lost 37-24. So it would seem that
our late headmaster at Lewes had already made up his mind about
use of the cane by the age if 17! One wonders if a better debate
might have changed his mind - but it's unlikely. He was not
easily persuaded by argument.
On October 30th they debated "The Blame for Recent Railway
Disasters lies with the Directors, and not the Companies'
Servants". This was passed 46-15. Eighty years later the
subject is still controversial and unresolved.
April 1914
The School Swimming Baths
Mr Dickinson, about whom more will be learned later, was a
great believer in the benefits of self-reliance and hard physical
work. He had already organised parents and boys to level sports
fields by pick, shovel and use of a portable rail system. About
this time he resolved to build a school swimming bath and The
Halesonian reports the good news that work is in progress. At
this stage everyone had completely forgotten about the need for a
copious water supply. The bad news would come later that
term!
The Parents' Evening
This seems to have been a novel event in the school calendar -
no mention of such has been found before. "On Friday March
27th, responding to the invitation of the Headmaster about two
hundred parents assembled to spend an evening at the school. The
proceeding commenced with an inspection of the Science
Laboratories, Art Room and Woodwork Shop." A lengthy list of
the topics on show, some of them of a humorous nature, are
mentioned. There was then an interval for refreshments followed a
concert involving singing by the younger boys, a short "French"
play by form III and concluded with the VIth form acting the
"Gadshill Robbery" from Shakespeare's "Henry IV".
The account of this event in the Halesownian appears over the
initials N. B., as was a report on the Debating Society which
consists mostly of a polemic from him about the need to improve
the quality of the debate and the numbers attending, especially
the numbers of girls. Form IVB
comes in for some some pointed criticism ('twas ever so) about
its failure to participate "as it is the slackest form in the
school".
Recollections
Unusually the School Magazine carries some sketches by a
pupil, H. S. Wright, of his recollections of Mr Dickinson and
life at Halesowen Grammar School -
The Christmas Play 1913
"On Monday and Tuesday, December the 22nd and 23rd, the
school presented 'The Merchant of Venice.' It is the general aim
to keep up the high reputation the school play has achieved, and
if possible to enhance it; judging from the various comments one
may conclude that the play this year was quite as successful as
those of the preceding ones, and everybody seemed sure that it
was far more enjoyable to have one play than two, as we had last
Easter."
The pupil who played Shylock is the first to be singled out
for praise, especially for his rendition of the Court scene. The
next paragraph reads
"Bradshaw, as Bassanio, deserved especial praise. He seemed,
as of course he should, to put his whole heart and soul into his
part and to feel every word he uttered."
There is praise for most of the cast and for all those that
contributed in various ways including the costumes - usually
organised by the Headmaster's wife Mrs Dickinson.
"The costumes were very striking, and the brilliance of
Bassanio's attracted the eye of the audience." Neville was
obviously in his element. Did he ever consider treading the
boards professionally, one wonders?
Owing to the absence of some editions of The Halesonian we
cannot bring you accounts of his performances in school plays
held in other years. However, from a tattered collection of
disintegrating programmes in the archives we can report that he
also took the part of Brutus in April 1913.
These programmes also reveal that his brother and sisters also
appeared in school plays at later dates. Ronald seems to have had
small parts in "As You Like It" in 1915 , as Snout in 1916 and
Prospero in 1917. It seems as though amateur theatricals ran in
the family - one wonders if there was some parental interest in
drama that encouraged them to partake.
July 1914
Swimming
"This year there has been a considerable increase in the
number of boys attending the swimming baths. The fine weather we
have been enjoying has induced many to forego cricket practice
occasionally to disport themselves in the cooling waters. Boys
who could swim at the beginning of term have become more
proficient in the natatory art, and Stevenson, Butler and
McFarland have learned to swim since the beginning of the summer.
We hope these boys, and others more at home in the water, will
not rest content with being able to look after themselves. There
are various methods of rescue which every swimmer ought to know,
and the bottom of the bath should be as familiar as the very
solid bottom of another bath we might mention."
The last comment in the report above obviously refers to the
concrete base of the abandoned school bath with which they are
now all too familar and which has become something of an
embarrassment to the school.
Boy's Cricket
"This year as last, we have not had a great deal of luck,
especially with the First Eleven. To a certain extent, no doubt,
we are still suffering from the exodus of bigger boys, which took
place two years ago, leaving us the task of building up an
entirely new team." This does sound rather a feeble excuse.
In two years one would expect a school first XI to have changed
completely!
"Still, even taking this into account, the team as hardly
done as well as it ought to have done. Put in a nutshell the
outstanding failing, common to the majority of the players, is a
want of pluck - indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that quite
half of the team is out before it goes in."
"Such a lack of care is particularly deplorable in view of
the great amount of labour that has been expended on the relaying
of the central part of the ground this last year."
The next section of the Cricket report, "Characters of the
Cricket Team" gives a short comment on the strengths and
weaknesses of the eleven members of the team. One is Neville
Bradshaw. Perhaps one should be surprised that he was in the
First XI for it is said that his eyesight was poor and he could
see very little without his glasses.
"Bradshaw, when he has been able to play, has shown himself to
be very patient and useful with the bat." One notes with some
amusement that the initials at the end of this report are N. B.
himself !
By luck this cricket team of 1914 was photographed and a copy
survives in the archives to which we have had access. By this
time Neville Bradshaw was 18 years old and those of you who knew
him will have no difficulty in recognising him. He is standing,
somewhat diffidently, in the back row fourth from the left.
The First XI 1914
Occasional Notes
An old boy of the school, G. H. Goodman, who left HGS in 1911,
is recorded as having graduated with an M.A. at Birmingham
University. As will be seen, this is the route that Neville
Bradshaw was to take after the summer holidays that year, for he
left school at the end of this term and would go on to Birmingham
University. You will read more about that in the next
section.
August 1915
Occasional Notes
It would seem that the authorities had woken up to the fact
that the country was at war and had authorised a Cadet Corps. In
fact what had happened was that the Scouts had been disbanded and
now wore cadet uniform. They were part of a larger Halesowen
battalion and had been to summer camp at Himley Park, the estate
of Lord Cobham. Later in this edition is a full report on the
activities of the Cadet Corps which shows that the degree of
training for rifle work, infantry work and trench warfare was
intense and comprehensive.
There is a brief mention of Cicely Bradshaw in the girls'
cricket team. She was two years younger than Neville. Nothing has
been said so far about Ronald (b.1902) and Grace (b.~1903) both
of whom attended HGS.
A curiously naive but chilling paragraph states "A pleasant
reminder of the work being done in Flanders by Mr Hoare (an
HGS master who was now in the army and was killed very shortly)
and his section - mostly Old Halesonians - was brought to us
in a visit by Major Addenbrook, who paid a high tribute to the
work being done by the Machine Gun Section in 'Plug Street
Wood'."
Among the successes of Old Halesonians reported is a note that
Mr. N. Bradshaw has passed in four subjects in the Intermediate
Arts Examination at Birmingham University. Later there is a
mention that he had returned to the school in July 1915 to help
officiate as a judge in the school sports - a nice touch.
December 1915
The Halesonian was devoted mainly to aspects of the Great War
which was now approaching its worst. There are accounts of Old
Boys who were now in the trenches and accounts of the Cadet
Corps, its training and fund-raising activities. In the reports
on external examinations Cicely Bradshaw is named as obtaining a
pass at senior level. One wonders what became of her.
Meanwhile Neville Bradshaw at Birmingham University has just
completed the first term of his second year and has decided to
break off his studies and enlist
July 1916
There was news of several Old Boys gaining degrees at
Birmingham University. This seemed to be the main route for Old
Halesonians to get university education. Being local it was
possible to commute to the university from most parts of the
Birmingham and Black Country.
In a list of Old Boys on active service appears L/Cpl. N.
Bradshaw - Worcester Regiment. The magazine was now reporting the
names of Old Boys killed in action in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and
France.
The Cadet Corps
seemed to be very busy training and exercising. One gets the
impression that the school was now more of a military academy
than a grammar school. The headmaster was Captain Dickinson and
many of the staff had military rank. Ronald Bradshaw is mentioned
as a Bugler. Among the photos in the archive is one of the school
cadets which is titled "1st Cadet Batt., Worc. Reg., Halesowen
Coy., Cadet Group."
December 1916
The numbers in the school had now risen to 200 and
accommodation was beginning to be a problem. Not only was there a
shortage of space, but the school was also short of money for
various projects. It was hoping for money to provide more science
facilities, a library, etc, etc. The problems would get worse for
many more years. There was a war on and education was not a
priority.
December 1917
Numbers were now 229 and the problems of accommodation were
getting worse.
Prefects
Ronald Bradshaw was appointed as a prefect along with many
others - both boys and girls. Surprisingly, until this time there
had been only four prefects and this position went automatically
with being the head boy of each house. The magazine carried a
substantial piece on the responsibilities of prefects and their
potential contribution to good order in the school. It is clear
that the reason for increasing the number from four to 24 in one
step was that the staff, many of whom were older teachers brought
in to replace those serving in the war, were finding it difficult
to cope with supervision of the so many children.
July 1918
Numbers were now over 260, increasing to 280 in the next term
and expected to reach 300 by the end of the academic year. A new
Education Bill was before Parliament that would expand still
further the provision of education. This would have most effect
in cities and large towns. Rural areas would tend to be neglected
because the schools were necessarily small, they had to be within
walking distance of the pupils, and the governors tended to be
older and more conservative in outlook than their urban
counterparts. This imbalance in educational provision between
cities and rural areas persisted until the 1944 Education
Act.
The war dragged on and yet more names appeared on the casualty
list.
Ronald Bradshaw was captain of cricket, although the amount of
cricket played had been reduced because of the amount of time
needed for Cadet Corps training. He came in for some criticism
for not being sharp enough and not exerting his authority over
the team.
April 1919
The war was over but another scourge appeared that was almost
as bad - the ravages of influenza which had caused much
disruption to school activities. The numbers were now 313 - the
highest in the school's history - and it became necessary to hire
rooms outside the school grounds to cope with the rapid growth.
The education authority was drawing up plans but the situation
was getting worse faster than the proposed solutions. It would be
another 10 years before the school would start building an
extension sufficient to cope. Inevitably, even that would prove
insufficient in the late 20th century.
Ronald Bradshaw passed his School Certificate examinations in
1918. He too would eventually go to Birmingham University.
The Future
The war is over and our thoughts are turned towards the
problem of repairing the damage it has done. No one realizes more
keenly than the Schoolmaster what education has suffered during
the past four years, and what a vast amount of leeway has to be
made up to bring it up to the standard of 1914. But the nation
has awakened to the fact that the educational facilities of 1914
were not what they ought to have been in order to be worthy of
the British Empire.
The Education Act of 1918 has opened paths hitherto
unapproachable and its fruition will produce a revolution in the
educational outlook of the nation. It is, for the parents of
those children now at School, most important that they should
look ahead and. try to realize the conditions under which their
children will live when they themselves are no more. How often
has one heard the father or mother in recent years bewail the
fact that they have not had a better education! This lamentation
is generally accompanied by the expression of a determination to
give their children a better education than they themselves
had.
Unfortunately this determination does not last long enough and
the children after one or two years at a Secondary School are
considered to have had as much as they need. In the bad old times
this was wrong; it is more so now, and will be still worse in 10
years time. Then the Education Act will be in full operation.
Every child will attend a school full time until it is 14 years
of age. Then there will be two courses open : (1) to go to work
at 14, and be compelled to attend Continuation Schools until 18
years of. age; (2) to attend a Secondary School and reach a
certain standard of education until 16 years of age or over. In
the latter case attendance at the Secondary School will of course
commence before the child is 14 years old.
Is it then, not very important that from the present time
every parent who wishes to do his best for his children should as
far as lies in his power, send them to the Secondary School until
they are 16 years of age? The tendency nowadays is to send them
to work at 14 or 15 just when the real work of the Secondary
School is beginning. Those leaving at these ages now, have only
reached a standard of education which in 10 years' time will be
the lowest standard required of all children. They will be
uttering the cry of their fathers : " I wish I had had a better
education." May we then strongly urge that no boy or girl should
leave our School, except for reasons over which parents have no
control, until 16 years of age!
But we do not want education to cease even at that age. In our
own School we have had an Advanced Course in Modern Studies
recognised by the Board of Education. Advanced Courses are for
those who have passed the School Certificate Examination and can
stay at school until about 18 years old. We can provide the
necessary number of pupils for one Course now, but we also want
to have a sufficient number for a Course in Science. With two
Advanced Courses in the School we should then be able to provide
the highest type of Secondary School work in those branches of
learning which are most suitable for a district like ours. With
only one course we are somewhat "lop-sided." The fact that many
children, throughout the length and breadth of the country are
taking advantage of such courses as these is going to have very
definite effects in the labour market. Inevitably there will, in
the future, be two classes of workers, the highly qualified
expert and the ordinary worker; the tendency is growing in
England as abroad for such experts to be called into commercial
spheres of activity, and on the merely financial and social side
such men and women are likely to be greatly in advance of those
of their fellows who have not taken the fullest advantage of
their early opportunities.
It remains therefore for parents to support our endeavours
by determining to extend the school life of their children as far
as possible. Our district has need of its best intellects and so
has our country. Every facility should be given for their
development. The Government and Local Authorities are spending
money freely in the cause of Education, and will do so even more
freely in the immediate future. Let us at the Southern end of the
Black Country shew that we also are doing our part by determining
we will be satisfied with nothing but the best for our children,
remembering that their minds and characters can only be brought
to a state bordering on human perfection, by long years of
education and training.
The School Play
"Twelfth Night" was presented on the 14 and 15 February 1919.
"Bradshaw completely identified himself with the uproarious,
rollicking Sir Toby Belch, and in some passages towards the end ,
seemed to render him with an uncanny insight." This of course
was Ronald Bradshaw who, as we shall see, became headmaster of a
school at which a school play was a regular feature.
To celebrate the end of the Great War the school Cadet Corps
joined in the various victory marches in the town and locally.
But the combined effect of the cessation of hostilities and the
onset of Spanish flu made serious inroads into the activities of
the Cadet Corps. While there was a willingness to carry it on, it
was clear that the expectation of a long period of peace would
lower its importance in the school's activities.