By Ian Cooper part of his excellent series, Records of a Bygone Age, first published in The Stronsay Limpet and republished here with kind permission.
In last month’s article we left the island mourning the sudden death in 1908 of teacher Margaret Tolmie. Mrs Tolmie had been the sole teacher at the North School since it opened in 1878 and had become something of an island institution during that time.
Following Mrs Tolmie’s death Miss Margaret Cooper from Tifmaka, a Pupil Teacher at the Central, stepped in to teach at the North until a new appointment could be made. For this temporary appointment she was paid at a rate of 12/- (60p) per week plus another 1/- (5p) for cleaning the school.
The vacant post was advertised at a salary of £55 but, with no suitable applicants, was readvertised a few weeks later at an increased salary of £75 for a certificated teacher.
Mrs Helen Flett, a 36 year old widow from Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, was later appointed to the post, moving into the schoolhouse with her 5 year old son Eric.
In September 1909 Mr Reid of Viewfield was appointed as cleaner at the North School at a rate of £5 per year, a considerable increase on Miss Cooper’s 1/- (5p) per week! His duties were listed as: sweep the school every day; light fires each day in season; wash out the school floors not less than every 3 months; wash seats and woodwork at least once a year and clean the offices.
The HMI report of May 1914 was again very satisfactory, with the inspector noting
‘This school, as far as discipline and instruction are concerned, is in good order. Reading, especially in the lower classes, requires more attention to secure some fluency and phrasing, and I read your response to what is desirable. Writing and arithmetic are well taught, and the written composition of the top class is worthy of a special mention.’
The report also noted that the flooring was quite done and should be renewed and cleaned more frequently and also that a stove in one end of the school wasn’t sufficient to heat the building. The report the following year noted that the school continued to be well taught and that there was an improvement in reading and oral subjects generally. The inadequate heating of the building was again brought to the School Board’s attention.
At a Board meeting in 1915 it was noted that the United Free Church had for some time been given free use of the North, South and Rothiesholm Schools for use as Sabbath Schools and it was agreed that in future the janitor of each school should be paid 10/- (50p) per year for the extra work involved with this.
Mrs Flett, who had been teacher at the North School since the death of Mrs Tolmie in 1908, resigned her post in May 1917 to move back south.
Mrs Flett was followed in post by Miss Adaline Foubister, but more of her later.
The Orkney Library and Archives holds a log book from Stronsay’s North School covering the period from 2nd June 1905, at which time Mrs Margaret Tolmie would have been headmistress with a roll of around 30, until 12th October 1933, by which time Miss Frances Drever was in charge and the roll had fallen to just 8. I found this to be a very interesting record of the school and times of that period and much of the following information has been extracted from it.
A feature of the log was the importance given to attendance levels, marked each morning and afternoon, with those absent with no reasonable excuse quickly being identified and their parents spoken to. The main absences were weather related and illness related, where any significant illness had to be ratified by a medical certificate. The school appears to have been visited at least once a fortnight by the local ‘School Board Officer’, later called an ‘Attendance Officer’, with the first of those whose name appeared in the log being one Alex Chalmers, followed later in the log records by William Clyne and then Peter Twatt. The main duty of this officer appeared to be to view the attendance record and check if any pupils were absent without a valid excuse, recording this and reporting back to the School Board at their regular meetings. The school was also visited, seemingly once a term, by the School Board Clerk who at that time was Robert Miller.
The school, like all others receiving State educational grants, was also visited regularly by His Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools and the first such inspection recorded in the log took place in October 1905. This seemed to be a very satisfactory report, recorded as
‘The school is taught with painstaking kindness and the general progress has been satisfactory. Reading is fairly fluent, much suitable poetry has been learned and the answering in Geography is accurate and full. The oral work of the junior pupils is very promising, and might with advantage be extended to include more continuous narration. Exercise books have been carefully examined and corrected, but sum setting and writing are both somewhat lacking in neatness and will require attention. Singing and Drill are good. The demeanour and conduct of the children leave a pleasing impression.’
As recorded earlier, headmistress Margaret Tolmie had died very suddenly in February 1908 and the school was closed for a week as a mark of respect. It reopened under the guidance of Pupil Teacher Margaret Cooper until a new teacher was found in the shape of Mrs Helen Flett.
To compensate for lost attendances due to Mrs Tolmie’s passing and previous closures due to bad weather the school opened on Saturdays throughout May, a move which probably failed to find favour with the 28 pupils on the roll at that time.
Epidemics of many sorts which led to school closures were an ongoing theme in that log book, with scarlet fever in 1907, German measles, followed soon after by typhoid in 1909, mumps in 1911, influenza in 1912 and whooping cough in 1914.
Particularly severe and long lasting snowstorms in the winter of 1908/09 and again in 1909/10 affected attendance very badly, with the school opening on some Saturdays once more to help compensate for missed school time.
19th May 1910 saw the school closed as part of a day of National Mourning following the passing of King Edward VII and later that year attendances were again recorded as very low due to ‘pupils kept home to help with fishing and taking up tatties’.
By May 1913 the school roll was hovering around the 40 mark, seemingly the highest it had been for some time, and still being taught by one teacher. The log book entry for 9th May 1913 records that the two highest classes, 23 pupils in all, had left for the Central School and that in future no Standard IV would be taught in the North School. (I think this Standard IV would have been 10 and eleven year-olds.) Despite this transfer, with the intake of new pupils to the school the roll still stood at 33.
While on the subject of numbers on the school roll, it’s worth recording an anecdote related by Caroline Fotheringhame (nee Fiddler). Her father John Fiddler, she recalled, lived at Rose Cottage in the Lower Station and started his school career at the North School around 1904. On arrival for his first day of school there was no desk available for him so he spent the day sitting on a sheet of cardboard on top of the coal bucket! Needless to say, his parents were not best pleased with this and the following day he went to the Central School, never to return to the North.
Another visit by His Majesty’s Inspector of Schools on 27th May 1914 produced the following report:
‘This school, as far as discipline and instruction are concerned, is in good order. Reading, especially in the lower classes, requires more attention to secure some fluency and phrasing, and a readier response in oral work is desirable. Writing and arithmetic are well taught, and the written composition of the top class is worthy of special mention. A stove in one end of the school does not sufficiently heat it. The flooring is quite done; it should be renewed and scrubbed more frequently.’
Another HMI inspection was carried out in May 1915 and commented that
‘The school continues to be well taught. There is an improvement in Reading and oral subjects generally.’ It went on to state that ‘The attention of the Board is again called to the inadequate heating and to the necessity of washing the floors etc. every month rather than three times a year.’
This seems to have had the desired effect as the floor was replaced and the interior painted during the 1915 summer holidays, although there is no record of any improvement to the heating.
Scarlet Fever hit the island once more in the spring of 1916 where the log entry for 25th April reports that all children from the Station from Ebenezer down were excluded due to the epidemic. By 6th May this had extended to all the Stronsay schools being closed, reopening on the 22nd after being thoroughly disinfected. Numbers attending were low due to ongoing fears of the fever and the schools were all closed again on 5th June. Although the other schools all reopened on 19th June, the North School remained shut for a further week, with the school summer holidays being reduced by a month to help compensate for lost attendance. Attendance was affected badly once more in December that year, this time because of measles.
As noted previously Mrs Helen Flett, who had been teacher at the North School since the death of Mrs Tolmie in 1908, resigned her post and was to leave the island In May 1917. All schools in the island were granted a half-day holiday on 28th April to allow teachers and pupils to attend the sale of Mrs Flett’s furniture and goods at the North Schoolhouse.
The vacant post was advertised in June 1917 at a salary of £70, together with a free house and £5 War Bonus. With no suitable applicants responding to this, the salary offered was later increased to £80. This enhanced salary must have been more attractive, with 24 year old teacher Miss Adaline Foubister from Kirkwall taking up the post in August.
Part 9 next week.