A history of Southwark’s schools

Aah, we welcome in lovely September! Hopefully the temperature will go back to normal and things will wake up again. When I was a child I looked forward to September and returning to school, not just to relieve the boredom of six long weeks' holiday but because I got new shoes!

Yes folks, instead of thinking about which subjects I should be studying I concentrated on the trip to Ravel's in Tower Bridge Road. Happy days, writes Debra Gosling...

If it wasn't for the School Board for London so many kids would have missed out on a decent education. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 had power to build and run elementary schools where there were insufficient voluntary school places; they could also compel attendance.

The School Board for London, commonly known as the London School Board (LSB), was the first directly elected body covering the whole of London. In Bermondsey, Monnow Road was one of the first to be built in 1874.

Monnow Road school Copyright Sylvia Perkins

Monnow Rd School Copyright Debra Gosling 2011

Between 1870 and 1904, the LSB was the single largest educational provider in London and the infrastructure and policies it developed were an important influence on London schooling long after the body was abolished.

Although education would not be compulsory on a national level until 1880, the board passed a by-law in 1871 that compelled parents to have their children schooled between the ages of five and thirteen.

Before that, many hard-up families kept the children at home to work and earn an income. I remember the school board inspector, who would actually attend your house if you wasn't at school.

He paid a visit to my cousin, who had been laid up with bronchitis and hadn't been to school for a week. Perhaps this is a procedure that could be resurrected - not only to catch truants but to ensure no little citizen is being abused or used for labour.

The chief architect of the schools was Edward Robert Robson (1836 -1917) who designed schools with large, sun-filled windows that let in plenty of fresh air. At a time when infant mortality was high and diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever were rife, this was a revolutionary design.

Edward Robert Robson. Public domain image.

If you walk into one of the many existing board schools that sense of light and space is still there and certainly inspires one to learn, create and, yes, sing!

Robson truly was an artist in his designs - he was affiliated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and it shows in all those little details he put on his buildings: sinuous scrolls, stylised flowers and picture panels.

And the school board monogram is a site to behold alone. Just look at those on Galleywall Road school and the delightful pictures of children on Southwark Park school. It is no surprise that these buildings are now listed. Inside, you will find the LSB monogram on old fireplaces and, in the case of Galleywall, the original red stone on the staircases.

Galleywall School Copyright Debra Gosling 2011

Galleywall School 1935 Credit: Debra Gosling

Yes, this was a time when the kids rushed between classrooms and run up the stairs, keeping them fit and ensuring the school monitor had the opportunity to bellow "walk not run!"

In Victorian times, Snowsfields was a very poor area with undernourished, uneducated children. Originally a charitable 'ragged school', Snowsfields opened in1881 as Kirby Street school, named after the street it was situated in. It charged a penny a week and required children to wear shoes and stockings, which many parents could not afford.

Snowsfields with peep toe boots. Credit: Southwark Archive

You only have to look at an old school photo to see that some struggled to meet the standards; where some boys have a white starched collar and tie, others have just jacket or a jumper. There are occasions boys have shoes on but they have no sole!

The elegant houses of The Paragon in New Kent Road were demolished in 1898 to make way for a London School Board School - looking back this is almost an act of criminality: the houses had been designed by Michael Searle and mirrored those he had produced in Blackheath. And now the school replacing it has been converted to flats!

My dad attended Paragon school but his education was marred and scant due to Adolf Hitler. He recalled that all of his teachers were called up to the forces and the boys were left with rather ancient teachers who were veterans of the previous war.

One teacher educated them on grooming, instructing them to brush their hair with two different brushes and how to polish their shoes. Hmm, not a CV highlight when you're off to work in a factory!

During World War Two the schools became a target for the Luftwaffe, with some in Bermondsey being totally wrecked. Silwood Street school was rendered to rubble early on in the conflict. Keeton's Road school was a tragedy, killing many already bombarded survivors who were sheltering there.

Southwark Park School Copyright Debra Gosling

There is a theory that board schools were used to house blueprints and military equipment, but those details will not be released in my lifetime, if ever so we may never know the truth - but it makes sense.

Although the school boards had been successful in increasing the number of children attending, they were perceived as bureaucratic and expensive.

Outrageous, I say. In my early years I attended Tower Bridge (Fair Street) School and it gave me so much. It had a proper library, a book club and a small swimming pool!

Tower Bridge school library Copyright Debra Gosling 1969

Fair Street School circa 1915. Credit: Debra Gosling

I don't know if all schools had this but I suppose being so close to the river it was a boon. I could already read before I started school (thanks Mum!) but the book club was brilliant.

Each month you could choose a book from a catalogue, then the next week a carton would arrive in class and there was the book! The teacher would then roll off a bookplate and paste it into the book and write your name.

The boards were abolished by the Education Act of 1902, which replaced them with local education authorities. The London County Council was created in 1889 to replace the Metropolitan Board of Works and in 1904 the responsibility for education in London was transferred to the LCC. The LCC itself was abolished in 1965.

And what of dear Mr Robson? Surely he should have been a 'Sir'? He was twice offered a knighthood, which he refused. But he is still a hero in my (bookplated) book...