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The history of Pennington Infant School - Part Two

1939 - 1960

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September 1939 saw the arrival of 13 evacuee children at the school from London, Portsmouth and Southampton. More consequences of the war can be seen from the school log entry for the 7th November 1939:

"Owing to the blackout we are commencing the morning sessions at 8.45a.m. instead of 9a.m. This is merely a temporary measure. The afternoon session will open at 1p.m. instead of 1.30p.m. as formerly."

The entry for the 9th November 1939 shows a rapid change of heart:

"Owing to the absence of artificial light on the premises the temporary arrangement for the morning session has had to be abandoned. It was too dark in the morning to see the register."

From the reports in the School Log it would seem that school life continued through the war years with little effect on the everyday life of the school. The children were taken to the Womens Institute in March 1943 and again in April 1944 to see newsreels of the war shown by a travelling cinema.

During the war years we see the first incidents of what is considered to be a modern day problem, vandalism. As these extracts show (don't you love the language?)

12th November 1943 - During the evenings this week the ash receptacle has been destroyed by boys using the infant playground to play in.

2nd february 1944 - The latrine was found this morning to have been used in a disgusting manner during the night and the grating has been removed.

14th February 1944 - Someone entered the playground during the night and a nuisance was found to have been committed.

17th April 1944 - A nuisance was found to have been committed again in the boy's latrine during the weekend.

The end of the war passes in the school logbook with barely a mention. A short note on 24th September 1945 records that there was a "Holiday given today on the occasion of Welworthy's 2nd V. day."

A milestone equally as memorable as the end of World War two is also recorded in September 1945 "Mid-day meals started today"

The first post war inspection of the school was carried out by His Majesty's Inspector on June 5th 1946. After seventeen years in the job Miss E.M.Colbourrne resigned, to be replaced as Headteacher by Miss B.P.Isaac. In her first year in charge she had 61 pupils in the school. By 1949 this had risen to 80 and numbers had reached 90 by 1950. Overcrowding was starting to become a major problem in the small two classroom school. The decision was taken to move from the small building in the middle of the village to the much larger Priestlands House (now the Gurney Dixon Art and Music Block at Priestlands School).

The first year in the new building saw almost as many workmen in the building as children, with electricity, flourescent lighting, walls, cloakrooms, etc, being installed. In January 1952 24 new children arrived at the school, but could not be admitted due to the lack of furniture. Following the installation of new furniture the children were finally able to be admitted in May. Building work was still continuing in September 1952 but the numbers had increased to 146. The post war baby boom continued to boost the school numbers. They reached a peak of 225 in 1956. The new school was the subject of its first HMI Inspection on 6th and 7th March 1956

The entry of 26th February 1957 reports the opening of Priestlands Secondary Modern School. At the start of the 1957/8 school year Miss Isaac welcomed Miss Happard who replaced Miss Dodman, also on the staff were Miss May, Miss Angel, Mrs Ellacott, Mrs Blake, Mrs Williams and Miss Stone. By 1959 school numbers were starting to drop and at the start of the 1959/60 school year the number on roll was 163.

 

Click here to go to the History of Pennington Infants 1960 - 2000