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