The Village School

In 1870, with France and Prussia involved in a dress rehearsal for the First World War, military drill was introduced into the curriculum and took place in Loring’s Meadow.  It then seems to have been dropped, for it was re-introduced into the timetable in 1888.  In 1905 the boys were taken for a “march-out” in the park.  Until 1890 the playground was very rough but in that year the large stones were removed and a layer of gravel applied, though in 1907 the inspector noted that the playground was very rough and recommended that a part of it should be suitably surfaced for drill and from then the drill was inspected by the Inspector of Physical Education for the Berkshire Education Committee.  In September 1914 it was recorded that a part of each playground had been paved for physical exercises, though in the 1950s there was only paving in the old boys’ playground.

The boys played cricket against other local teams including, in 1866, the Bradfield Union (Workhouse) boys.  In 1872 a half-holiday was given (on a Wednesday) on account of a cricket match in the park.  Football and stool-ball were also played, the latter perhaps involving the girls who didn’t seem to feature much in physical education, although in 1925 swimming lessons for an hour a week were given to both girls and boys, with the girls having a half-hour each day on Monday and Thursday mornings with Miss Benyon and Mrs Claydon and the boys an hour on Friday afternoons with Mr Whittenham and Mrs Claydon.

Recreation was not neglected and at the beginning of 1891 swings and a horizontal bar were provided in the boys’ playground at the expense of Mr Benyon.  The cost of this equipment was met by the sale to the children of food prepared by the girls during a course of cookery lessons, the ingredients having been given by Englefield House.  By the end of February the swings and bars had proved to be a “daily and constant pleasure” but in April the same year it was reported that the ropes of the swings had been “maliciously cut by some person”.  Notwithstanding this ingratitude, a set of parallel bars was added to the “gymnasium” in the same month and it was hoped that some of the retired soldiers and other athletes in the village would show the boys some exercises on both the horizontal and parallel bars.

In 1892, two see-saws were added and the ropes of the swings were replaced by chains.  By 1894 there was also a “giant stride”: a tall pole with ropes/chains attached to it.  Children could grab hold of the handles and run in circles, so fast that their feet would leave the ground.  Most of the fun seems to have been reserved for the boys but in 1906 it was recorded that “Yesterday the swing boat fell while in use.  Luckily the girls in it were not much hurt” so by then it appears that swing boats may have replaced the swings and been for use by the girls as well.  The frame for the swing boats can still be seen in the photograph of the school taken in 1959 with a single  horizontal bar remaining alongside it.

In the First World War, official encouragement was also given to the establishment of school gardens and allotments and from 1917 the older schoolboys took gardening as a manual exercise.  In Englefield where some of the boys would certainly go on to become gardeners on the estate and the estate workers houses all had large gardens anyway (which were expected to be kept tidy) it was good preparation in general.

In the next war, the school garden in Loring’s Meadow next to the school was begun as part of the Dig for Victory campaign in 1941 and the first plant (a spring cabbage) was placed by the headmaster on 26th September.  At that time there were 60 children on the roll and the garden measured some 800 square yards.  Under the School Garden Act of 1942 the produce was sold, with the proceeds being shared by the school and the authority.  On 25th January 1943 the school received £12-13s-4d from the sale of produce, £2-2s-8d being remitted to Reading.

In 1953 the Rector proposed to the managers that the school garden should be discontinued and a smaller area of some 300 sq yds allocated at the bottom of the schoolhouse garden.  There were then only nine boys taking gardening, for two hours a week, the oldest being 12.  The managers did not agree but the garden seems to have been much curtailed in any case, becoming merely the allotment-sized strip alongside the road as seen in the picture on page 26.  The garden was discontinued anyway after 1956 when the school became solely a primary school.

Homework for the children was sometimes a bone of contention, as it is today, but at no time was it more so than in the 1880s under the headmastership of Henry Best, as was corporal punishment.  Several parents objected to the amount of work the children were expected to do and declared that their children were suffering bad dreams or insomnia as a result.  Illness was prevalent at this time.  John Gibson had his sons John and Edward examined by Dr Cox who certified that they were suffering from overwork and advised a short relaxation from homework.

In 1883 Henry Best noted that he had “commenced giving marks for work, especially home lessons...”.  This involved giving extra marks for work in excess of “an ordinary and reasonable amount”, with a minus mark for work below the expected standard.  The child receiving the least marks each week received no play during the following week.