Judy Middleton 2001 (revised 2021)
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| copyright © J.Middleton This photograph, taken in April 2021, shows that the historic Aldrington School building is still in use for educational purposes |
Background
The school was built on land that was once part of Aldrington Farm, being in the ownership of the Fuller family from 1788 until Hugh Fuller died in 1858. He left his land to Hugh Ingram who was his first cousin. In 1876 the Ingram family decided to sell the farmland to be developed for housing, and consequently this piece of land suddenly found itself catapulted from rural tranquillity into a maelstrom of legal details; in fact within the space of ten years, the land was the subject of twelve separate deeds. This is an indication of the amount of speculation going on at that time. The first deed was dated 10 June 1877 and the names on the document were as follows:
Mary Ingram
Revd Henry Manning Ingram
Robert Bethune Ingram
(These three names appeared as both 1st part and 2nd part, and the following two names were added for the 2nd part)
Catherine Elizabeth Ellman
Mary Ann Ingram
(The final four names being the 3rd part)
Vere Fane Bennet Stanford
George Gallard
W. J. Williams
Joseph Harris Stretton
The final deed was dated 11 May 1887, and it was between William John Williams and the Minister and Churchwardens of Aldrington (in other words, St Leonard’s Church).
The site was described as a parcel of land abutting a road intended to be called Clarendon Villas Road (it later became Bertram Road, before finally becoming Portland Road) and the stipulation for the use of the site was as follows:
‘All buildings thereon erected … to be for ever hereafter appropriated and used as and for a School for the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the Parish of Aldrington’.
The site measured 200-ft from east to west, and 100-ft from north to south. It was directly north of Lion Mews, and south-west of a dairy farm.
The School Opens
The school was built in 1888, and opened on 25 March 1889 by the rector, Revd H. Ingram, and by the following day there were eighteen pupils under the supervision of the assistant mistress Genevieve Wicks.
The first head was Miss Cross who took charge on 29 April 1889. Miss Cross certainly had her work cut out because she was responsible for the older children as well as the infants.
However, in 1892 Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools issued a warning that if the average attendance of the infants continued to exceed fifty, then they must be taught by their own certificated teacher. The following year, the HMI had this to say ‘the infants have acquitted themselves fairly well but hardly as well as former years. A classroom is much needed here, and the room is often inconveniently crowded and the efficient working of the class is in consequence impeded. It would … be advantageous to make this a district department as Miss Cross has so much to do in the older scholar’s room that she cannot exercise constant supervision here’.
The advice was heeded, and in October 1893 Miss Ada Shutt took charge of the infants. In 1896 a new classroom was added, measuring 20-ft by 17-ft.
Poverty
Meanwhile, Miss Cross was kept busy with the older scholars. A month after she had started at the school, she noted that many children were backward, especially with regard to their times-table, grammar and geography. She also noticed that many of them were ill-shod, and she lost no time in setting up a boot and shoe club whereby a child could pay in three pennies or less on a Monday morning to save up for footwear with the bonus of 2d interest for every shilling saved.
Later on, vouchers were issued to those children who needed footwear, and the vouchers were exchanged for new shoes at a shop in Blatchington Road. But inevitably, the perk was sometimes abused, and children were sent to school wearing the most worn-out shoes available, and not necessarily their own, while their feckless fathers were known to spend plenty of money in the pub. This state of affairs grated on other parents who struggled to stay respectable, and for example, there were the Mainstones with twelve children to feed for whom life seemed like a never-ending battle.
Some of the children went to the soup kitchen in Sheridan Terrace, and they were allowed to leave school ten minutes early for this purpose. Others brought in bread and dripping, or bread and jam wrapped up in newspaper to eat at lunchtime. If the children were thirsty, they could drink water from a metal cup attached by a chain to a basin in the lobby. But mothers warned their offspring never to allow the rim of the cup to touch their lips for fear of infection.
Early Days
In the early days when the infants were learning to write, they did not use a slate and chalk, or paper and pencil, instead they used trays of sand. The shallow metal trays resembled baking tins, and there was a strict drill to be observed before teaching began. When the teacher said ‘one’ the children held the trays in their laps, at the sound of ‘two’ they held their trays up, when the teacher said ‘three’ they gave the trays a shake to make the sand even, and when they heard ‘four’ they placed the trays on their desks or tables.
A similar four-point system was held every day for handkerchief drill. But before it started, squares of old soft material were given out to children who had forgotten to bring their handkerchief to school. The command of ‘three’ led to a round of nose-blowing.
Discipline was necessarily strict because classes had to share a room. On one occasion in 1903 the HMI found a class under instruction in the porch, a practice he said must be discontinued at once. A cane was resorted to at times. One scholar remembered with amusement the cloud of dust spiralling upwards from the seat of a boy’s trousers as he was being whacked.
Disease
There was the usual run of illnesses at the school including measles and what was described as ‘hooping (sic) cough’. In October 1890 and again in 1898 an outbreak of diphtheria caused the Sanitary Department to close the school for nine weeks.
On 12 December 1898 it was recorded that ‘a great gloom has been thrown over the school this week by the sudden death from diphtheria of one of the nicest little boys in the school’. Diphtheria was also prevalent in November and December 1899, and according to Miss Winnie Mainstone several of the infants, including her six-year old sister Mabel, died. They were buried in St Leonard’s Churchyard.
Disruptions and Holidays
In March 1891 there was a heavy snowfall, and it seemed prudent to give the children a holiday. In July 1891 a severe thunderstorm also prevented the children from going to school.
Outside events impinged too, particularly when the circus was in town. Experience showed that there would usually be a poor attendance when the circus arrived, and so the pragmatic solution was to give the children a half-holiday. In July 1899 Bailey’s Circus was camped in a field opposite the school, and the Log recorded a novel reason for a half-holiday, and this was that the ‘parents were afraid to send their little ones to school’.
Half-holidays were also sometimes awarded on the last Friday of the month if the attendance level had been good.
Additional holidays occurred in 1900 – in March to celebrate the Relief of Ladysmith, and in May to celebrate the Relief of Mafeking. Empire Day on 24 May was also celebrated every year.
Attendance Officer
This post was filled by Captain Dowell in the early days. It was his job to find out the reason for a child being absent from school. Good and punctual attendance was rewarded with the prize of a book or a framed picture; and if a scholar managed to attend school without once being absent, the prize was a watch.
A Church of England School
The school excelled in its religious education, but then it enjoyed a constant stream of visiting clergymen, and the clergy from St Philip’s Church and sometimes from St Leonard’s Church taught in the school. The Bishop of Chichester popped in during February 1891, and expressed himself well satisfied.
In April 1890 scholars who had been successful in the Diocesan Examinations received their certificates from Archdeacon Sutton, watched by the Rural Dean Canon Borrer, Revd H. M. Ingram, and Revd. R. M. Rosseler.
The Diocesan Inspectors were usually in raptures over the children’s performance. In 1890 their knowledge of the Old Testament and New Testament were both excellent while the catechism and liturgy were very good. In 1891 the Revd J. Paget Davies wrote ‘I have much pleasure in placing this department on our small excellent list for this year, a high knowledge of Religious Knowledge having been attained by each of the three classes’. In 1896 every part of the assessment was marked ‘excellent’.
True there was a slight blip when Miss Cross left, but the school was soon back of course as a religious high-flyer. In 1939 the Diocesan Inspector wrote ‘Would that all Church Day Schools were like Aldrington! The Inspector would like to bring many Managers and Teachers to visit it’.
In the 1890s several of the boys were also choirboys, and when they had their annual treat in September 1895, there was a noticeable drop in the numbers at school. In the early days, Ascension Day was treated as a half-holiday after church in the morning, and the children always attended church on Ash Wednesday.
Management
When the school was opened, Aldrington was a separate parish from Hove, but in 1893 Aldrington and Hove were amalgamated, and one of the conditions laid down was the road to the school should be made passable.
Until 1903 the school was run by the Aldrington (Church of England) School Managers, but in 1903 it came under the jurisdiction of Hove Borough Education Committee. Hove Council at once decided to erect and light two street lamps near the school. But the school continued to be run as a church school.
Drawing and Other Skills
Drawing was held in high esteem in the early days of the school. It did not appear in the original timetable, but was added in 1891, no doubt at the insistence of the Inspector. Drawing exams were held in 1894, and by 1896 the school had been awarded an ‘excellent’ for drawing. The boys used to draw cones and cubes that were kept on top of the cupboard when not in use.
After the girls had finished their cookery lessons at Connaught Road Schools, they had to draw all the kitchen utensils, including the cooker.
By 1913 drawing was taught to all the children with the exception of the girls in standard one. The Inspector was not impressed – ‘there is no justification for this omission’ he thundered.
Needlework was an essential subject for girls but in 1901 the Inspector did not think the older girls were giving enough time in cutting out. It is instructive to note that the boys in infants were also taught to sew.
Miss Elizabeth Cross
She had been the headmistress since 1889. In the Log it was recorded that she was away from school 22 April to 25 May 1906 although no reason was given. On 10 December of the same year, the chairman of the school managers, Ernest J. Morgan, arrived at the school, and found Miss Cross ‘in a condition unfitting her for the fulfilment of her duties’ and he sent her home. The very next day the managers met at the school and summarily dismissed her. Poor Miss Cross – after seventeen years of exemplary service to be sent packing just like that. It is ironic to recall the glowing reports of former years such as ‘taught with considerable care’ in 1892, and ‘a decidedly efficient school’ in 1893. The Inspector noted that Miss Cross had been employed without a written agreement, but it is to be hoped that she received some sort of pension.
Perhaps matters began to slide in 1905 when although the scholars were still taught with great earnestness, the vital spark was missing, and the children were not making much individual effort.
A New Head
On 13 February 1907 the new head Emily Harris took charge and found the school standards in a deplorable state. The children in the lowest classes were backward and listless while the teachers had low qualifications.
The Inspector noted that geography was taught in too narrow a way, and he did not like the way history was presented either. If it had not been for the fact that reading, writing and spelling were credible, the whole report would have been dire indeed.
Visitors
From 1910 onwards the school routine was quite often disrupted by visitors. It was not the type that used to call – ladies of leisure who enjoyed looking at the needlework or hearing the children sing – these were official visitors. For example, there were health visitors, occasional visits by the doctor, the nurse who inspected the children’s heads, and from 1911 the dentist also called. In 1914 there was the first visit from a photographer.
Overcrowding
By 1913 the school was seriously overcrowded, and the Inspector remarked upon it. It appears that some children had been kept back a year, not for any scholastic reason, but simply because of the overcrowding. The school thus presented a lop-sided range of class sizes, as can be seen:
Standards I and II – 76
Standards III and IV – 42
Standards V, VI, and VII – 25
When the new intake came up from the Infants, they would be simply swamped. The Inspector remarked that there was an abundance of places only some 150 yards away at Portland Road Council Schools. It was therefore arranged that 41 scholars should attend another school.
The Caretaker
In March 1917 Mr Stredwick, the caretaker, was reported as being insolent when he was asked why no fire had been lit in the school. A week later he was dismissed. Some former scholars could remember the Stredwick family where the children attended schools so diligently that they were awarded watches.
First World War
As far as the Log Book goes, the First World War did not seem to have much impact upon the school. In December 1917 the school closed early on at least three evenings, at 4.15 p.m., because of a lack of lights, and in October 1918 the school closed early to save on gas and fuel.
The most interesting entry was made on 28 July 1918. ‘Mrs Dunkerton left at 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon to go to London on the occasion of her son’s second decoration by H. M. the King’. No doubt this gallant soldier was Captain Lloyd Hain Dunkerton of the York and Lancaster Regiment who was awarded the Military Cross. Mrs Dunkerton was a large lady, well known for her discipline, but also fair in her judgements. Her husband ran a photographer’s shop in Portland Road for man years.
Some Teachers
Miss Maynard taught scholars in Standard I, and she was quite a character. She was a firm supporter of the suffragette movement, and she used to stand on waste ground, where St Peter’s Church was later built, haranguing passers-by on the subject ‘Votes for Women’.
Miss Kibblewhite, later Mrs Carpenter, arrived at the school in 1922 and remained until 1960. After Miss Minter died, she became head in 1931. During her time as head, a school uniform was adopted, and her husband Donald Carpenter designed the school badge. He was a master at Hove County Grammar School. Also, while she was head, an extension was built that allowed the staff to have their own room for the first time. Mrs Carpenter taught the children to write in a beautiful copper-plate style, but her good work was soon undone when the children moved to other schools where the Marion Richardson style of hand-writing was all the vogue.
The Second World War
The war caused a significant impact on the children’s education. There was the frequent dash to the air-raid shelters when the siren sounded, and then the uncomfortable wait in the damp, musty trench with perhaps only a biscuit to nibble for distraction. The Log Book records an astonishing 73 separate air-raid warnings between 1940 and 1945, and these were just the ones recorded during school hours. Of course, such a warning did not always mean there was going to be an air-raid, and there was the other side when enemy air-craft arrived overhead without any warning at all, and machine-gun fire raked people unfortunate enough to be out in the streets. On one occasion, the children were half-away across the playground going to the shelters when there was firing from two German planes and the children were told to fall flat on their faces where they were. A stark reminder of the incident were deep bullet holes on one side of the school.
On 9 March 1943 there was a bombing raid at 4.55 p.m. in the vicinity of the school. A boy from Standard III was killed, as well as the father of a girl in the same class.
In addition there were some evacuee children for a while, which made the school very crowded, and the evacuees also passed on their nits to the other children.
In the midst of this mayhem Miss Moodie, the Inspector, arrived in November 1942 to give her opinion on whether or not it would be a good idea to install electric lighting in the school. In a remarkably short time, electricity was installed and the lights were switched on for the first time on 24 March 1943.
The Centenary
The school celebrated its centenary in 1988 when it was recorded that there were 105 pupils between the ages of four and seven. A campaign was launched to construct new school buildings.
New Buildings
Aldrington School was still a Church of England Aided School, which meant that the governors were obliged to find fifteen per cent of the total cost of the new school.
It was felt that it was high time to move from the old cramped school, bounded by busy Portland Road on the south with Lumley & Hunt’s fuelling station at the rear, and there was a chemical store nearby.
The first idea for a site was in the grounds of Blatchington Mill School, but in the event the school was built at Eridge Close, north of Nevill Playing Fields. Naturally enough, the process was not all plain-sailing. A large number people objected to the new school on the grounds of traffic congestion. In fact in June 1989 there was a petition against the project signed by 75 people. But after careful consideration, the plans were approved by Hove Council in July 1989. There was further good news that same month when two children from the school became prize winners in a young letter writing competition organised by the Post Office. There were 10,000 entries in the under-nine age group in the south east, and the subject was Secrets. The first prize of £100 was awarded to Charlotte Overton-Hart, aged seven, and the third prize of £50 went to Edward Green, also aged seven. Head Betty Irving could not believe the results, especially since she had only entered the work of two pupils.
The new school cost £2million, and it was built by the Sunninghill Construction Company, the architect being Anthony Carneys. The design is certainly a break with the usual run of school buildings – in fact the complex resembles a rural cluster of buildings with a Dutch-barn feel to the roof-line of steep red-tiled roofs with inset windows to provide plenty of light; a five-barred gate adds to the impression. The school was built with yellowish bricks enlivened with red string-courses. Set low in the wall near the entrance there is a memorial stone inscribed To God be the Glory in rather fine lettering.
When the school moved to its new home in September 1991, five-year old Stephen Holdstock rang the bell that had been used for a hundred years at the old site, while Alexandra Wilsher, aged six, declared the school open.
The school was now expanded to include juniors too, and in January 1993 Colin Annis became the new head. He had arrived at a testing time because the Inspectors had noted that the school was performing well below the national average, and that discipline was poor. Mr Annis won the backing of most parents in his efforts to try and turn the school around. By February 1999 the school came second in the top ten of the 46 primary schools in Brighton & Hove League Tables. The school had 220 pupils aged from four to eleven, and nine teachers.
Heads
1889-1906 - Elizabeth Cross
1907-1915 – Emily Harris
1915-1918 – Alice E. Leney
1918 Rose Dunkerton
1920s Miss Minter
1931-1960 – Miss Marjorie Kibblewhite (later Mrs Carpenter)
1960-1966 – Adrian Robinson
1966-1975 – Wilfrid Relph
1976-1987 – Daphne Barrow
1987-1992 – Betty Irving
1993- 2001 – Colin Annis
2001
Mike Jee
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| copyright © J.Middleton The former Aldrington School in 2021 |
Sources
Argus
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Walbrook, H. M. Hove and the Great War (1920)
The Keep
PAR 396/25/1 – Conveyance (1887) of land for Aldrington Church of England School
PAR 396/25/2 – Aldrington School, new classroom 1895
Copyright © J.Middleton 2021
page layout by D.Sharp