By Ian Cooper, from 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 North School in August 1917 under the care of newly appointed teacher Miss Adaline Foubister. Miss Foubister enjoyed a fairly uneventful first term at her new school, although as a foretaste of what was to come a heavy snowstorm on 26th November meant all the children had to be sent home early, with more snow causing disruption in December. The school reopened after the Christmas holidays on 2nd January 1918 and then, in what was recorded as one of the harshest winters on record, the school was closed again on 7th January due to a ‘raging snowstorm’. This was to last for 11 days and was then followed by a thaw which made roads impassable. The school eventually reopened on 21st January, although attendance was still poor for several days due to the state of the roads.
Due to the ongoing effects of the war a notice from the School Board was sent to all schools on 13th September 1918 to the effect that ‘The Board desires to point out to the Headteachers in all the schools the necessity of strict economy in the use of coals owing to the great scarcity and high price of that useful article.’ With HMI reports previously stating that heating in the school was inadequate, it would have been quite challenging to make any savings on their use of coal.
Later that year the ‘Spanish Flu’ which was sweeping through the country reached Stronsay, with all schools being closed by order of the Medical Officer of Health from 4th December until 13th January 1919, then again from 19th February until 21st March.
In May and June that year attendance was again badly affected, this time due to a chicken pox epidemic, then in August, as part of the National Celebration of Peace, the school opened a week later than normal after the summer break as ‘one week extra holiday was granted, as the King wished it’.
With love apparently in the air, Miss Foubister resigned her teacher’s post in the summer of 1919, marrying merchant Oliver Corse from Bayview the following year. A new teacher for the North was quickly found, with Miss Rebecca Johnston from St Ola beginning her teaching duties there on 29th September 1919. Just a few days later, on 3rd October, a rather intriguing entry in the log states that on that day ‘several children went home without leave’ but the reason for this can only be a matter of speculation!
An inspection by the School Medical Officer, Dr J R Adam, in September 1920 states that:
‘The same remarks regarding heating, lighting etc. in the South School apply here also. The plaster on the ceilings should be attended to before it gets worse. The pail closets also require more frequent attention. School cleaning is only fair.’
The pail closets were, of course, the very basic toilet provision of the time, with the pails being emptied twice a week.
Although the school roll at that time consisted of 10 girls and 10 boys, it was noted in the week before Christmas that the average daily attendance was only 6.2.
The school was closed for a day’s holiday on 28th February 1922 ‘by order of King George for the celebration of Princess Mary’s wedding.’, with another half day holiday being given on 28th May to celebrate Empire Day.
Another report by the School Medical Officer on 15th June 1922 recorded that:
‘The school ceiling is bad, but with a coat of whitewash, might be left over for a little longer. The new heating is very satisfactory. The west wall of the Teacher’s house is very damp and needs immediate attention. The paper on the inside of the wall both in the kitchen and the room above is rotten and the woodwork of the windows appears to have suffered also. The sink in the scullery is very old and the pipe from it has so many bends that it is constantly becoming choked. A new sink is required and the pipe should be led straight out through the west wall to empty over the present grating. A tap might also be provided and this would necessitate a small raised tank as the present one is on the ground level. It could be arranged that the rain water passes first into the higher tank and then overflows into the lower. The remainder of the schoolhouse is in good order.’
This report must have been acted upon very quickly as the HMI report in November stated that,
‘the pupils answered briskly and made in general a very good appearance. The repairs recently effected in the school and schoolhouse and the improvement in the heating of the school are noted with satisfaction.’
Yet another bout of whooping cough affected attendance in November and December 1922, with 11 children in 5 different families being off school at the same time.
In April 1923 a petition from some of the Whitehall Village ratepayers was presented to the School Board asking that they should consider building a new school in the Village. This request was to be repeated many times over the years but was never seriously considered, with the Central School retaining its status as the main (and later the only) school on the island.
Rebecca Johnston moved on in the summer of 1923, with Miss Isabella Sutherland taking up the post on 3rd September 1923. Miss Sutherland had been Assistant Teacher at the Central School since April 1918 and had, in fact, been boarding for some time with Miss Johnston at the North Schoolhouse so the transition to teacher there should have been a fairly easy one.
The roll at that time stood at 18 but by September 1924 it had fallen to 14, despite Senior, Junior and Infant divisions all being taught in the school.
Another HMI report, this time in December 1925, was again very happy with the pupils’ education and state of the school and offices but were less happy with the attendance record, stating that,
‘last session the percentage of average attendance was only 83.55 and this session the percentage so far is rather less. This record is, at the very best, only fairly satisfactory. It is very desirable that every effort should be made by the School Management Committee to secure the highest possible degree of regularity.’
A number of pupils transferred between the North, Central and South Schools over the years as their parents moved from one farm to another for work, usually at the November Term Day (11th November), this being the usual date for tenancies and labour contracts to begin and end. The log also recorded, in what would certainly be deemed as politically incorrect terminology now, that children of the tinker families came and went, sometimes enrolling for only a few days, and including some who had never previously attended school.
Entries in 1926 also record that a pupil who had been absent for some time due to what was termed ‘a diseased spine’, presumably as a symptom of tuberculosis, had been removed to the Scapa Sanatorium. This sanatorium had been established in 1924 at what had been a seaplane base in Scapa Flow and was then converted to a sanatorium specifically for those suffering the effects of tuberculosis, which was so prevalent at that time.
An entry on 1st February 1927 recorded that,
‘Two pupils, John George Leslie, aged 4 and Jean Angela Leslie, aged 6, were admitted today. The latter has not attended school before owing to the distance away and bad road.’
I believe these were the children of George and Janet Leslie from Westray who lived in the little cottage on the southern point of the Huip Ness. It was said that George put the children the short distance across the mouth of the Oyce to the shore on the other side in a small boat each morning, saving them a walk of over a mile around the coast of the bay on their way to school.
By April 1929 the school roll stood at 19 and a HMI inspection at the time reported that the children in the two higher classes were fairly proficient in their work but were less than satisfied with the younger children where they concluded that,
‘A considerable number of the pupils from various causes fail to reach the stage of work appropriate to their year. Oral answering was lacking in brightness and vivacity, and a further effort should be made to stimulate their intelligence and arouse interest.’
The teacher pointed out in a note after this report that a number of these children’s attendance record over the previous sessions had been very poor, and that one pupil in particular ‘was a very dull child’.
The school was put to other uses too, with North of Scotland College of Agriculture providing ‘adult education’ lectures, with Mr H Corner giving a lecture on ‘Agriculture’ in 1930 and Miss M Leslie lecturing on ‘Poultry Management’ in all four of the island’s schools the following year. With poultry keeping, and particularly egg production, providing a significant part of farm income at the time, this would have been of particular relevance to the island’s economy.
Teacher Miss Sutherland was also called of an evening to demonstrate and pass on her skills, this time for knitting, a talent which had seen her win awards at County and National level.
Another HMI report in June 1931, by which time the roll had fallen to 10, showed little improvement in either performance or attendance, stating that,
‘It is unfortunate that this school should show such a lack of brightness and vivacity, accompanied by a marked disinclination for speech. These defects were particularly noticeable among the older pupils.’
before going on to report that.
‘Exercises in arithmetic were well done, spelling was satisfactory, handwriting and drawing were good.’
before concluding the report by stating.
‘Attendance here is less satisfactory than at the other schools of the island. In a number of cases the irregularity seems to have been unavoidable; in some cases there is a considerable element of doubt. As there has only been one good percentage of annual average attendance within the last five years the School Management Committee should closely scrutinise the returns of this school.’
After 17 years teaching in Stronsay, the last 12 of which had been at the North School, Miss Sutherland left the school and island in October 1935 to teach at the South Walls school in her native Hoy. Before she left, she was presented with a wallet of notes from grateful pupils and islanders in recognition of what she had done for the school and the island, with her duties as a Sunday School teacher for all of her time on Stronsay also being praised.
Soon afterwards Miss Frances Drever, whose mother was Georgina Stevenson originally from the Osen, transferred from teaching in Birsay to take up the vacant North School post, moving into the schoolhouse with her sister Lily as her housekeeper.
Part 10 next month.