It's Elementary

It is now over thirty years since the first major legislation authorising education provision on a national scale; the 1870 Education Act.

The original inset name panel at Alma Road School is below the first floor window. Although the date of installation is not known, the lower Public Elementary School panel would have been installed
post-1902 and fixed directly into the brickwork without being set into a border frame.

After playing around with government's potential responsibilities for educating the nation's children, the Education Act of 1902, commonly referred to as the Balfour Act, sealed the state's future pathway, formalising the provision of education throughout the country for all children, not only those who weren't lucky enough to receive a classroom place from one of the voluntary organisations.  Further, transferring existing responsibilities from local boards (described in the previous blog) and voluntary organisations to the recently formed county councils.  Although districts could apply for exemption, St Albans, after much lengthy discussion, agreed to pass over its schools to Hertfordshire County Council (HCC).

While HCC lost no time in familiarising itself with its portfolio of existing premises and the need to standardise the facilities' requirements for new buildings, it was clear to the authority that improvements to existing buildings would be limited, given the disparity between need and available resources.  For example, the entirely sensible desirability of providing a bathroom for the benefit of any child arriving at school dirty from normal living conditions endured at home, would potentially have a facility to use before the school day began.  However, some members of the education committee were not convinced of the committee's responsibility to ensure children were clean. Standard building foundations would also be reduced for new buildings to a depth of 18 inches.  Porches would not be provided, and pianos were also considered unnecessary expenditure.

It may be a challenge to view, but this photograph, published in the Herts Advertiser in 1914, 
shows boys from Hatfield Road Elementary School working on the school's allotment garden
in the Ninefields, Brampton Road.  The houses in the background are on the south side of
Brampton Road.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

On the other hand,  a proposal for woodwork to be introduced for boys, and for school gardens to be provided, both for which were accepted. Accommodation for the first was found initially at the old Art School premises in Victoria Street, and a section of ground at Hatfield Road Boys' School was made available, although it is not known whether other schools also benefited before the First World War.  During the war the same school took on allotments on spare ground north of Brampton Road. 

The committee was also concerned that younger children, including infants, traditionally spent too much time sitting at desks. It urged that more time was given for education for the body – active pursuits.

So, the new school style would provide full-time attendance at a recognised school from the age of 5 to 7 in mixed infants classes, thereafter in senior classes of single gender until the age of 12, above which it was slowly but progressively advanced by a year at a time.

Two recent views of the former St Peter's Elementary School, the top picture from Old London
Road and the lower picture from the top of Cottonmill Lane.

The first school to operate as an Elementary school was the former St Peter's Rural Board School, opened in 1898, which was quickly renamed St Peter's Rural Elementary in time for the new Act, and quickly identified as Camp Elementary Schools.  It should be noted that in most cases the title was pluralised to Schools as each section was operated as a separate school department, whether or not it operated within the same building.  Camp Schools quickly filled up as children not living within the city boundary, but who had previously received informal permission to attend their nearest city school, were now required to  attend their nearest "other" school. Since most of the new housing being provided on the east side of the city fell within the "other" areas and there was only one available school, the Camp School's accommodation was soon depleted.  More new homes were also being provided astride Hatfield Road – but  no school, board or elementary, was initially provided in that location.

Camp Elementary School in Camp Road.  The top image is a recent view of a little-altered
frontage (except for the hanging baskets).  The lower image shows a group, possible, two
classes from the leavers' year, aged 12, c1900 to 1905.

Parental pressure quickly mushroomed among parents moving to Fleetville, and by 1906 a site, intended to be for future houses in Royal Road and Tess Road (now Woodstock Road south) was turned over to the County Council for its next new elementary school.  By November 1908 the senior section of the new Fleetville Elementary  Schools was complete.  However, as the infants building was still in the future – and would not open until 1913 – it was decided infant classes would be enrolled and join the senior groups in the 6-classroom building.  For five years the three  infant classes would share the hall space.  

Recent photographs of the former Fleetville Elementary Schools.  The top image is the building first opened in November 1908.  This was intended for Senior classes, later designated Junior and Senior
classes.  The lower image is the smaller building, opened in 1913, for three infants classes.

The previous two paragraphs are naturally inadequate to describe the East End's two original schools.  So they will join a growing list of organisations enjoying more extended posts – eventually!

In other parts of the city and in more rural settlements the existing British, National and Board schools would continue as usual, but as Elementary establishments, the responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council.  Its Education Committee would then decide when a school was deemed full, with arrangements made to add either permanent or temporary rooms according to need. Or, of course, adding more desks to existing classrooms!

Remembering that the system in St Albans largely relied on making use of existing buildings for an existing system.  Unsurprisingly, it did not take long for the modified structure of the Education Committee to require unpicking.  The elementary system was about to be re-organised less than two decades onwards. We'll discover how next time.