The first school to be provided on Rushden’s new western housing estate was opened in Tennyson-road on Thursday afternoon by Mr A E Elkington, C.C., Vice-Chairman of the County Education Committee. It has cost £10,000, is the “last word” in design and equipment for the teaching of infants, and includes provisions which would be useful to the civic authorities in the event of an air raid.

Thursday’s ceremony was carried out in the presence of a large company, and became of great significance when Mr Elkington disclosed full details of a scheme for the complete reorganisation of the school system in Rushden—a scheme which includes direct vocational training for the boot industry and the erection of a Senior School adjacent to the new premises.

Addressing the visitors outside the building, Mr E Freeman (chairman of the Rushden School Managers) said the Managers had been looking forward for a considerable time to the opening of the school and were delighted that the day had arrived. He thought that great credit was due to those responsible for designing the school and carrying out the work.

Mr Charles Riddey, the architect, handed a key to Mr Elkington, who unlocked the premises. “I hereby declare this school open,” said Mr Elkington, “and pray that God’s blessing may rest upon the work that is done herein on behalf of the young people of this area.”

An inspection of the school followed and a further ceremony was held in the large playroom, where Mr Freeman presided, supported on the platform by Alderman S J Lloyd, C.C. (Chairman of the County Education Committee), Mr Elkington, Mr W E Capon, J.P. (Chairman of the Rushden Urban Council), Alderman C W Horrell, J.P., Mr Arthur Allebone, J.P., C.C., and Mr Cyril Faulkner, C.C., Mr J L Holland, B.A. (County Secretary for Education), Mr W F Corby, J.P., C.C., M.B.E. (Raunds), Mr E Montford, J.P., C.C. (Wellingborough), Rev P B Spriggs, Rev C J Keeler, Mr F Green, Mr H N Parker (H.M. Inspector), Mr G H Lewin (County Architect), Mr C Riddey (architect of the school) and Mr Arthur Sanders (the builder).

Changed Conditions

The chairman referred with great regret to the absence of one whom they would have liked to see present—Mr Leonard Perkins, M.B.E., headmaster of the Rushden Intermediate School, “a great friend of the schools and the children.”

“I am sure,” said Mr Freeman, “that the sympathy of everyone here

Will be with him in his time of sickness and that it is our hope that he will soon recover.”

Changed conditions, continued Mr Freeman, brought them up against many problems which were not of their own making. In Rushden the problem had not been that of adequate school accommodation but of suitable accommodation having regard to the extension of the populous part of the town and the creation of a new area in that particular district. It had not been too easy to obtain what they desired for that neighbourhood, and there were times when the parents did not appreciate the difficulties of the authorities.

He was delighted that they were at last able to provide for the needs of the neighbourhood. It was a delightful school in every sense, and he had no doubt that children passing through it would look back with a measure of pride on the early training they received there.

The chairman welcomed Councillor Capon as a man who was enthusiastic in the cause of public service.

Life and Character

Mr Capon gave a cordial welcome to the visitors. Tremendous changes, he said, had taken place in every walk of life during the last 20 years, and not the least change was manifest in the sphere of education.

The more complex civilization became, the greater the need for those standing upon the threshold of their life’s work, to have the right outlook and a clear conception of what life was and meant, and a foundation on which that wonderful edifice called character could be reared.

Without minimising in the least the influences at work and happily bearing fruit in the religious sphere, it was sufficient to say that a tremendous and ever-increasing responsibility devolved upon educationalists of all kinds.

The new school, standing as it did in a new housing area of about 600 houses, called for congratulations to those who were responsible for its construction. They were grateful for its provision, and knowing Rushden as he did, he could safely say it would add not a little to the welfare and general progress of the town.

A nation was said to be judged by the type of citizen it produced. Might it not be said with equal truth that the fruits of education were also wrapped up in the type of youth or maiden it provided? In this particular, so far as the new school, and indeed all the schools in Rushden were concerned, he assured them that nothing would be wanted to bring this about.

Hope of Another

Mr Capon added that they looked forward to the day when they would have the pleasure of attending the opening of another school wghich they hoped to see erected on adjacent ground.

Mr Freeman said he wished to refer to the valuable work of the school teachers generally, and in particular to the efforts of some of the staff in raising hundreds of pounds to supplement the provision of educational equipment. This work was greatly appreciated, but the Managers looked forward to the day when these efforts would not be necessary.

Mr Elkington referred with disappointment to the absence of Mr Perkins, whom they all admired for the valuable work he had done for education in the county. Mr Perkins was a teacher of great ability and had done a great work in the schools of Rushden.

He had also proved a very good administrator, and that the new school existed was very largely due to his foresight and his help in the early days, when the assistance he gave was most valuable.

The school accommodated 100 infant children in four classrooms and a playroom, and they had now 178 on the books. Its features included a small store which could be fitted with arrangements for warming milk, the system of individual towels had been adopted. Space was left for the erection of additional classrooms when they became necessary.

The cost, including site, furniture and professional charges, was about £10,000, and the architect was to be congratulated upon a building which was a delightful example of a modern infants’ school.

Ambitious Plans

Mr Elkington, having complimented the builders, explained that the school not only served the new estate but replaced the Moor-road infants’ school. The old Moor-road school was built just 50 years ago on a 50 years loan which, of course, expired this year, and the cost, including an enlargement 11 years later, was £1,547 for 200 infants. It had not yet come to the end of its useful life, because it was proposed to turn it into a centre for Public Health infant welfare work and a School Clinic for the town as a part of the committee’s scheme of reorganisation for Rushden.

This scheme for Rushden, when complete, would include a senior school for boys and a senior school for girls. The existing senior Mixed department at Alfred-street, Newton-road, and South End would be reorganised as junior Mixed, and, in addition to the infants’ classes at South End, there would be three infants’ schools – Alfred-street, Newton-road and Tennyson-road.

Junior Boot Classes

In addition the committee were spending between £5,000 and £6,000 on extensions to the Boot and Shoe School, and plans were being considered for the provision in the new buildings of a day-time junior technical school for the definite development of vocational training in connection with the boot and shoe industry.

The Senior Boys’ School would be a new school and would be built on land adjoining the new infants’ school, and the senior girls would be accommodated in the present Intermediate School.

The committee were reluctant to close a school which had done such useful work and had provided an advanced education for many children in Rushden and the neighbourhood; but the development of the new Senior Schools, coupled with the raising of the school leaving age to 15, had given education authorities the opportunity of providing in the upper classes of the ordinary senior elementary schools an education of the same type as that which could previously be obtained in a Central or Intermediate school only.

The new Senior Schools all contained a large proportion of special practical rooms, including science laboratories, woodwork and domestic subjects rooms and rooms for the teaching of arts and crafts—in fact, nearly half of the classrooms were of this type.

600 Senior Children

Explaining the financial considerations, which in this type of school are very great, Mr Elkington said there were about 600 senior boys and girls in Rushden, and it would be obvious that there would not be scope in the town for three schools taking children of this age.

There was also the point that the more clever children had an important part to play in the new Senior School—the existence of an “A” stream did much to set the tone of the whole, and the “A” children themselves stood to gain from the contribution of other children who, while not perhaps having the same academic abilities, had other qualities and abilities to offer.

It was interesting to note, Mr Elkington said with a smile, that a good many parents seemed to have put off sending their children to school in order to place them on the Tennyson-road registers. Apart from these new-comers the school was the same as it was when it was housed in the Moor-road buildings. Teachers and children had moved en bloc. Miss Partridge, the head teacher, had served in Rushden infants’ schools all her teaching life and had given 30 years’ work to the town. She was transferred to Moor-road in 1933, and, having served in Moor-road and South End for nearly 15 years they thought she fully deserved to find herself in charge of Rushden’s newest infants’ department.

Mr Elkington referred to changes in the child’s environment, which had become brighter. Drudgery, he said, had been eliminated from the classroom, and lessons had become a pleasure, so that children now ran to school. All this change had made the work of the education authority very widespread.

Road Safety Scheme

The County Education Committee was now engaged in preparing a road safety scheme for scholars, and it was pleasing to find that many teachers had already done good work in this matter.

With all this development of education he often wondered if there was a danger of going too far, and usurping parental responsibility, but he hoped this would not happen. If teachers and parents worked together the child should be given a good start in life.

After Janet O’Connor and Margaret Roberts had presented buttonholes to the chairman and opener, a delightful programme was given by some of the scholars. The percussion band, the group singing and the recitations all made a great appeal.

During the ceremony a passage from Proverbs was read by the Rev C J Keeler, one of the School Managers, prayers were led by the Vicar of St peter’s, and “O God our Help in Ages Past” was sung, with Mr Bernard Archer, of Wellingborough, at the pianoforte.

Mr Arthur Allebone, who moved the vote of thanks, said they appreciated very much the interest Mr Elkington showed in the education of Northamptonshire children. A man of his ideals was deserving of the position he held in education today.

“Hurry Up”

Mr Fred Corby, the senior member of the School Managers, to whose long service the chairman made reference, seconded. They hoped, he said, that it would not be long before they got the Senior School and were able to complete the new educational scheme for the town. They had a beautiful site on high ground, and the only thing they wanted now was for the authorities to hurry up and fulfil their expectations.

Mr Corby recalled that the school he attended when a boy was “a glorified barn.”

Alderman Lloyd referred to the difficulty experienced by his committee in getting their programme through. They could not blink the fact that their school population in the last 26 or 27 years had fallen from about 35,000 to 25,000, but he felt they had now got to the very bottom of the decline and that the tide would soon be rising.

Mr and Mrs Capon afterwards entertained the visitors to tea at the St Peter’s Highfield Hall.

Among those present during the afternoon were Messrs L Baxter, A T Chambers, and E A Sugars (members of Rushden District Education Sub-Committee), Messrs J George, J Roe, W J Sawford, J Spencer, J.P., T J Swindall, H Waring, and A F Weale (members of Rushden Urban Council), Mr W L Beetenson (Clerk to the Council), Dr C M Smith (School Medical Officer), Miss C Millgate (School Nurse), Mr J Perkins (Deputy County Architect), Mr B Archer (Clerk of the Works), Mr J B P Miller (Assistant Secretary for Education), Mr H E Baines (Secretary for Education, Bedfordshire), Mr G E James (representing the Irchester Schools), Mrs Riddey (wife of the Architect), Revs E E Bromage, A J Stevens, R H Conway, L M Allen and T W Gill, the Rev Fr. O’Gorman, Mrs Sharwood (representing Mr F J Sharwood, C.C.), Mrs Perkins (representing Mr Leonard Perkins) and many other ladies.  

Other schools in the town were represented by their head teachers—Mr W A E Sherwood (Newton-road Mixed), Mr S Lawrence (Alfred-street Mixed), Mr O L Ashy (South End), Miss D Hill (Alfred-sterret Infants) and Miss D Furniss (Newton-road Infants.

Miss Partridge’s assistants on the staff of the new school are Miss C Scholes, Miss E Hodgkins and Miss L Sharpe.

School Described

The new school contains three classrooms, each accommodating 50 infants, and one room for babies.

The school is of the semi-open air type, with large doors which open wide to meet the sun. The whole of one side, including the babies’ room, opens completely. This “nursery” room is 26ft long and 24ft wide, and a large toy store adjoins. The classrooms are 24ft by 20ft.

Biggest of all, however, is the babies’ playroom, which is no less than 30ft long and 25 ft wide. An electric heater is provided to warm milk for the children.

The head teacher’s room is centrally placed with a book store adjoining and immediately above it, on the first floor, is the assistant teachers’ accommodation.

Liberal cloakroom accommodation for both staff and children is provided.

A heating chamber is in the basement, a low pressure hot-water system being employed, with pipes and radiators throughout, and special attention has been paid to ventilation, which is very efficient. Most of the windows open to the South.

Five points for electric light are fitted in each room, and wiring is provided for the installation of electric clocks. The colour scheme of green and gold is very harmonious.

A playground surrounds the whole of the building, and wrought iron fencing is used.

Gas Treatment

Up to the minute in every way, the school has even been equipped for the treatment of people suffering from gas in case of air raids, and extra large hot-water tanks have been installed. This was done at the request of the Rushden Urban Council, who approached the architect, and in this respect the school is probably unique in the district.

Mr Charles Riddey, F.R.I.B.A., of Kettering, was the architect, and he also supervised the work. The general contractors were Messrs Arthur Sanders Ltd., Rectory-road, Rushden.