[WED]School day observations

[Lyn Nunn]

Hi All

I noticed when reading the school logs that things hadn't changed much - the
boys were constantly giving the headmaster grief by throwing stones at and
scaring horses of passer-by's on the road side of the school. There were
also mentions of children defacing the walls.

William Tincknell was punished 2 Sept 1881 for stone throwing in the school
yard.
Oliver Webber was punished 24 Feb 1884 for playing in the girls playground.

Mrs Tincknell ( I am pretty sure this is my great grandmother) complained in
March 1881 that Mr Job (The asst master) had boxed her sons (Albert) ears
causing them to bleed. The Master gave instructions that no punishment be
inflicted by any of the Assistants in the future.

21 Dec 1891 Punished (2 strokes on the hand) John Fisher for striking
another boy.

Other than those though there wasn't a lot of punishment recorded.

Attendance was a bigger concern - there were the truants mentioned earlier,
illness and the harvest seemed to keep quite a number away. There were quite
a few "readmittances" and it seems to have been partly because parents could
not afford the fees -

21 Jan 1889 Robert Tincknell, a boy of 11 years re-admitted today.

7 June 1889 Several children have returned to school after a long absence.
Robert and Charles Tincknell, Sarah and Dorcas Frost are among these.

In the week now closed Miss Pitfield called to arrange with me as to the
payment by her of the school fees of the 4 children named above.

28 July 1889 - Robert Tincknell son of a widow was allowed by resolution of
the board to leave school for work. ( he was 12 years old then).

31st July 1889 Charles Tincknell came this afternoon too late to be marked.
(afternoon school began at 1-30pm)

29 Mar 1895 - Samples of bad attendance since Nov last - Harriet Fisher,
Arthur Webber, Walter, Albert and ------- Fisher.

Exceptional treatment was given to some children at exam time - I took this
to mean they were exempted from the exam as they had not been at school long
or had not attended very often and therefore were not up to standard.

The Fishers, Tincknells and Webbers seem to get the most mentions. I wonder,
does anyone know if the Webbers also lived in Guildhall and were part of
"the bad lot"?

It was nice to see though that the literacy and numeracy levels of the
children improved greatly over the years and to read the pleasure between
the lines of the Masters as they noted it and began to be able to introduce
other subjects such as geography.


Lyn Nunn
Brisbane
Australia

lyn@webexpress.net.au
lnunn@optusnet.com.au