What was school like in the 1920s?

[elfinblues]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to write an account of my grandfather's life, but with almost no primary material available from him (he passed away many years ago) I am trying to reconstruct what it would probably have been like. As part of that, I'm trying - without much success - to find an account of what his school years would have been like. He attended school in the Rhondda valley, in Wales, between about 1922 and 1931. To be honest, though, any account of school life from that period - however generic - would enable me to at least give some impression of what he might have experienced, what he would have studied, and so on.

Does anyone happen to know of any good sources of information about 1920s/30s school life (preferably online)?

Many thanks in advance,
Steve

[barryd]

In a mixed school in the 1950/60s (me) the teachers called the girls by their first names and the boys by their last. Presumably the same in the 1920's.

[philipsearching]

A few random thoughts:

Inkwells set into the desks
Corporal punishment
Left-handed children being forced to write right-handed
Outside toilets (bl**dy cold in winter!)
Classmates whose fathers had died in the war
Classmates whose fathers died or were injured in mining accidents.
The General Strike of 1926
Wearing clothes handed down from older siblings
Leaving school at 14 to find work
The "three Rs" - Reading wRiting, aRithmetic
Reciting the alphabet and multiplication tables
Learning the capital cities of every country in the Empire
The British Empire ruling beningnly over ignorant savages
The Boys Brigade (free uniforms - Boy Scout uniforms had to be paid for)
Adult life expectancy probably under 50.

Philip

[Rosinish]

Not much help but...

When having a conversation with a 'new found relative' (sadly now passed) & born 1930 we spoke of life in general way back where my ancestors grew up etc...

I do recall him telling me when he was at school there were no 'Jotters' all their work was done on slate with chalk!
What made me laugh was when he told me he would get 'homework' which he would duly do for the following day on the slate but...

As there were no buses (where they lived), school was quite a walk from home & if the weather was wet then inevitably his hard work was washed off 

I don't know when jotters & pencils became the norm?

Add...They would also take Peat for the fire at school for heating (Highland Scotland) i.e. it's possible the same happened England/Wales/N Ireland but probably using coal rather than peat?

Annie

[marcie dean]

THE LEA WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AROUND THEN, you would have been caned for doing the slightest thing wrong on your rear-end or your knuckles.given a showing up if you wet yourself and made to stand in front of the whole class in your wet clothes. thank god, I was born in the 50s' still had to leave school when I was 15 yrs though,  to support my mother and my half-siblings' all named Burke.

[carol8353]

My mum was born in 1927,she used to tell me about her very strict headmistress at the junior school who used to stand on a chair at the front of the class to sing hymns!

The toilets (outdoor) were across the yard in the playground and torn up newspapers were on string by the side of it. If it was frozen you couldn't flush it!

[panda40]

All sounds like my infant school in the 1960’s. Toilets outside writing on small blackboards, no paper till the last year, reciting times tables and corporal punishment. So not much changed.
Regards
Panda

[conahy calling]

Outbreaks of measles, mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough etc
polio and TB cases.
Lice infestations

[bykerlads]

Deducing from the village school I went to in the 1950s, there were still outside lavvies then and the cane was used when required. The building had clearly once just one biggish hall/classroom with newer additions.So I'd guess the one-room school might have existed in the 1920s.
One interesting fact is that certainly at Hade Edge school, West Yorks, very young children even toddlers and babies seemed to "attend" school in some circumstances. I have been told that photos from the 1920s and 30s of this school exist where the aduts are holding very small children. And in fact my father went to Hade Edge school from the age of 3, mainly as he recalled playing in the sand pit and with toys. I don't know how common this early schooling/childminding was but in dad's case it could well have been because his mother was 'not a well woman'.