80 YEARS OF COTTESBROOKE INFANT SCHOOL

Transcription

1 80 YEARS OF COTTESBROOKE INFANT SCHOOL The school began its life in February 1930 at the Baptist Church, which had space for up to 250 children, under the leadership of Miss Horsley. The roll increased from 107 to 280 in April In November 1931 a resolution was passed to purchase land to construct 4 huts to take the place of the temporary accommodation. On 6 th February 1933 the new Yardley Road Junior and Infant School opened with 3 infant and 3 junior classes and a roll of 286. Extra classrooms were added as the roll increased to over 480. When the war started in 1939 Miss Horsley requested air-raid shelters be constructed.

2 The Log Book In 1940 Miss Pritchard took over as Head Teacher followed by Miss Onions in 1957, Miss Southern in 1968, Mrs Walker in 1972, Mrs Spall in 1990, Mrs Phillips in 1995 and Mrs Allsopp in Quotes taken from the Log Book Entries to the Log Book were made, usually on a daily basis by the Head Teacher. Staff and pupil absences were recorded along with any event or incident. Visitors to school, accidents, school trips, assemblies, examinations, medical and HMI inspections, fire drills, heating issues, weather, industrial action it s all in there and makes very interesting reading. In fact, after reading them it could be deemed that nothing much has changed! Here are some extracts exactly as they are written Nurse Collins examined the hair of all the children not one dirty! Dr Kerr, Medical Officer for the council visited the school this morning and inoculated 80 children against diptheria.

3 1934 I (Head Teacher) am commencing this week, with the help and cooperation of the staff, to serve hot chocolate milk to children whose parents wish to buy it. The response was so great (295 the first day which has since been maintained) that I find it necessary to commence the play time 5 minutes earlier with certain classes School closed Royal Wedding Several fresh cases of scarlet fever have broken out during this week and we still have a few chicken pox cases and quite a number of whooping cough cases among the younger children His Majesty the King (George VI) visited Clay Lane Aeroplane Factory which is quite close to the school and some of Class 1A left school at 1.30 to see him pass. [Wikipedia - Acocks Green was the location for a custom-built factory which made parts for the Bristol Hercules radial engines. Construction of the factory commenced in late 1936 on the site of Westwood's market gardening business near the canal. The factory was the Rover shadow factory and it was operational by July Towards the end of the war, the Rover factory began to produce Meteor tank engines, and the Meteorite engine. The factory was visited by King George VI in March The military connection the factory had made Acocks Green a target for German bombers.] Parents meeting called and held today concerning the proposed evacuation of the child population of Birmingham in the event of war being declared After numerous preliminary practices a warning was given, without notice at am today. All children in shelters with gas masks and in an orderly manner within 4 and a half minutes. (One of many recorded in the Log Book) 1945 School closed for VE Day. (Following day) Attendance very poor School closed for Princess Elizabeth s marriage Owing to the influx of children due to the increase in the birth rate following the peace a new class has been formed. This necessitates the opening of an annex in the Baptist Chapel. At present the class is in the hall as there is no furniture Epidemic of measles School closed in the afternoon for Coronation Party Visit of Mr Brooksbanks, Mr Springeti and other officials to discuss the future school building From August 31 st the school to be split in to junior and infant depts. Miss M Onions to take the junior children to a new building across the road. Mrs U M Southern appointed Head of the infant dept which will remain in the present building.

4 1972 School closed for celebrating of the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II & Duke of Edinburgh School had to be closed due to the gas dispute (one month). During the school s closure builders began work on the school kitchen conversions, also on the installation of electric heaters for children s toilets This Saturday was Acocks Green s Carnival Day and our Flower Queen and all her retinue were invited to lead the Carnival procession on a float. Mrs Walker and a parent accompanied the float and the whole event proved an honour for the school and was most successful. The children were a credit to us Open Day and party to celebrate our 60 th birthday. Many ex-pupils attended and we had a lovely day. I wonder if our present building will survive another 60 years I doubt it! 1994 Paddy Ashdown, Liberal Leader MP visited to see the state of our building. BBC TV, national and local press covered the event. The children gave him their petition for a new building. In 1968 a new Junior School was built in Cedars Avenue at which point the school separated and the schools became Cottesbrooke Junior School and Cottesbrooke Infant School. The Infant School remained in the temporary buildings with a Nursery being added in The condition of the huts got worse with water running down the walls and over the children s work when it rained. Parents campaigned for a new school to be built with eventual success. The late Lib Dem Councillor, Neil Biddlestone helped the campaigners win the battle.

5 The Old Building The Quadrangle The Infant School was eventually knocked down in May Rebuilding took 2 years to complete during which time the children and staff worked valiantly whilst the school was rebuilt around them. Down with the old...

6 Up with the new... A celebration assembly was held on 15th May 1998 when the new school building was formally opened by Estelle Morris MP.

7 Baroness Morris (Formerly Estelle Morris MP) with Mrs Ann Phillips (Headteacher ) The children are now accommodated in modern, light and spacious classrooms with all the facilities required for modern teaching methods including a separate library, specialist teaching areas, a networked computer system and interactive whiteboards in all classrooms. Some early photographs Staff of 1972

8 Cooks of 1975 Snow White performed by the Dinner Ladies and Parents Each year a Pantomime was put on for the children. Lesson in the old school hall

9 Easter Assembly Parents and Staff giving the old building a facelift A Sports Day in the early 1990s

10 A Few Memories from Past Pupils Mrs Shirley Day - We were taught to knit on 4 needles and we knitted socks for the troops. ( ) Mr Leon Cook - As there was a fear that the school would be unprotected should there be any air-raids at the beginning of the war the school was closed down for a few weeks while shelters were built. During that time we received lessons in various houses where some had volunteered to have their houses put to that use. ( ) Mrs Margaret Cleghorn - I remember a daylight air raid. They machine gunned the school; they were aiming for The Rover Factory. The infants got into the shelter. We were under the desks. No one was hurt. ( ) Mrs Sheila Huckfield - For the Queen s Coronation in 1953, we used the hall to hold a party where lots of roads gathered, brought food and had games and balloons for the children. The school was always very much at the heart of the community in the surrounding area. Mss Jennifer Jones - The classrooms were built of wood with wooden steps to a pair of classrooms. The toilets were outside in the playground and in the winter were very cold. The rooms were rather crowded as there were always over 40 children to each room with only one teacher. I can honestly say I never felt cold or uncomfortable in the classroom. ( ) Our most recent OFSTED (January 2013) report is available to view online how will this compare to the inspection of 1938: are doing good work and as the children reach the age of transfer, they develop extremely well. there is evidence of steady progress in reading, writing and speech Many opportunities are provided for children to express themselves freely and an early interest in nature is aroused. Happy 80 th Birthday Cottesbrooke Infant School!!

11 More Early Photographs - sent to us by Miss Edgcumbe June The girls' dresses were made out of crepe paper by the mums Christmas 1958

12 Summer Term 1960 Summer Term 1960

13 Christmas 1960 Summer Term 1962 With thanks to all past pupils and staff for their memories and photographs and to Sheila Halford and Sally Jones for helping to sort out some highlights for this web page.

14 80th Anniversary Celebrations Enjoying tea and talk of the "Old Days" Being entertained by the children

15 Staff and pupils, past and present Looking through old photographs

16 Tree planting with the four most recent Head Teachers (Mrs Walker, Mrs Spall, Mrs Phillips and Mrs Allsopp) And finally, the real tree planting