Frenchay Village School – 1890s and 2015 These two photos show Frenchay Village School on the edge of Frenchay Common, close to the village church (and to the village pub!). The first photo shows a group of pupils on the common in front of the school which was opened in 1842, when it was known as the Frenchay National School. This photo was most likely taken in the 1890s. Fortunately the School diary or log book covering the period from 1865 to 1950 has survived and is available to read on-line in the archives of the excellent Frenchay Village Museum (frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk). This diary records not only the school’s academic performance but also discipline problems (“a bad boy, Frank Powell, ran out of school”, 1883), attendance issues (“attendance this week was largely interfered with by Barnum and Bailey’s Show at Bristol”, 1899), parental feed-back (“Mrs Bird complains about a severe flogging of her little girl in the Infant School”, 1886), medical tragedies (“a sad week in the school’s history – two children, Lilian and Clifford Taylor, die of diphtheria”, 1902, “a Standard 4 girl, Florrie Whale, died of consumption”, 1903), local weather (“no school Monday, children all busy with parents picking up wood after a most tremendous storm on Sunday evening”, 1872), and war time problems (“several parents refuse to send their children until the air raid shelters are provided”, 1940). It is a fascinating record not only of a village school over more than a hundred years of state education, but also of the life and history of the local village. As todays photo shows the external view of the school is virtually unchanged and Frenchay C of E Primary School remains at the heart of the local community. (1890s photo c/o Paul Townsend https://flickr/photos/brizzlebornandbred/8524545330/)
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:19:22 +0000
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