The Scalford School Punishment Book

by Esther Mapletoft, Grace Riley, Evie Cox, Louise Davies, Isabel Jackson and Kayla Wallis

The Year Sixes have been looking at a very old book from the school’s archives called ‘The Punishment Book’. It was kept between 1900 and 1962 and it details bad behaviour and the punishments administered to pupils as a result. Most punishments were strokes of the cane, either on the hand or across the shoulders.

Below are some examples from the book.

On 4 November 1901 Joseph Stapleton was hit twice on the hand and four times across the shoulders for persistent talking.

On 15 November 1901 Harry Stapleford got ‘1 stripe’ across the back and the across the hand for persistent talking.

On 22 October 1902 Arthur Kirk was caned for ‘tickling the girls in the row in front of him’ having already been warned not to.

On 6 December 1907, Mabel Hodson and Eva Wilford got ‘one stripe’ on the hand and two across the shoulders for ‘indecent writing’.

In 1912, on 24 May, Samuel Durrand stole some pen nibs and he received one stripe on each hand and three across his back.

In 1913, Ernest Cox was hit twice on both hands for ‘setting fire to a girl’s pinafore on leaving school’.

In 1915 on 3 March, Wilson Pearson was hit three times on the back for insolence and then four more times for throwing a pen at his teacher when he became angry after being caned.

On 15 December 1916, Harold Cox received ‘about six stripes across the back’ as after receiving a slight punishment he began thumping the boy next to him and he had refused to take punishment in other ways.

On 31 October 1917, there was a fight involving Harry and Robert Lambert and Harold and Bertie Cox. This took place in the dinner hour and they also used ‘foul language’; as a result they all got a punishment of two stripes on each hand.

On 29 September 1919, Gilbert Watchorn was disobedient, refused to take a slight punishment and was insolent. He got several stripes across the back and one on the hand.

On 15 September 1920, Alec Bailey was given one stripe across each hand for cutting the desk with a knife. On 6 October 1921, Wallis Hill was not paying attention in class and he was also playing around. He refused to take punishment on the hand so he got three stripes across the back. However, he then dashed out of the school.

On 11 September 1923, Neville Watchorn received two strokes for playing with a balloon in lesson time.

On 30 October 1924, Dennis Bray got one stroke for telling a lie.

On 24 March 1925, Iain Swain got one stroke for climbing on the tiles.

On 31 March 1925, Harry Cox, Cyril Hill and Noel Pritchett got two strokes each for ‘reading improper chapters in the Bible’.

On 10 November 1925, Noel Pritchett and Jack Barnett got two strokes each for climbing on the roof of the porch.

On 11 February 1926 Edwin Pearson and Kenneth Giblett got 2 strokes each for ‘inattention and copying in arithmetic’.

The final entry in the book is from 28th February 1962, when Alan Watchorn received 2 strokes of the cane for insolence.

The original cane is still in school. Just in case…

The History of Scalford School - Log Books

We have spent some time looking at the school’s old log books. These date back to the 1800s and they provide details of attendance and events in the school calendar. We had to wear special gloves to look at them. We learnt a lot about the school’s history. Some examples of what we discovered follow. Sometimes the old-fashioned handwriting is tricky to read!

On this page from 1878 you can see how the harvest affected school attendance. It also shows how the summer holidays were delayed because of wet weather and the harvest holiday did not start until the end of August and they continued until October. When school started again, attendance remained poor for a while because a lot of children were still in the fields gleaning – which meant they were collecting the left-over spilt crops to help feed their families.

The next pages show an inspector’s report from 1878.

He said that the school was in an awful state when Mr Cockayne took charge as head teacher. He did his best to gain proper discipline, but standards were still low.

The school had not been doing very well therefore it would not receive any more grant money as the inspector thought the arithmetic was poor and the infant class knew nothing about letters.

The next page from 1887 explains there was really bad weather so that made many people not come to school. People at Scalford School got told off because the children were climbing on the walls next door and the teachers thought it was dangerous. The school broke up because of the snow and they had a week off for Christmas.

The next page is from 1889 and describes a bad accident. Joseph Bridge had not come to school because he was potato picking and then he jumped onto a cart to get a lift home. Then he caught his leg in one of the wheels when he fell off. He broke his thigh bone.

The next page from 1889 describes how illness affected attendance. Minnie Wilford had only attended 20 times during the last 14 weeks that the school had been opened. Minnie Wilford’s mother said that her daughter wasn’t coming to school, because her health was very poor. Minnie’s mother was scared that her daughter had consumption (a disease also called tuberculosis). Frederick Woodcock was at home with a broken arm. Mary woodcock (his sister), is very dangerously ill with erysipelas (a nasty infection that causes large red parches on the skin), the doctor informed the school on Tuesday that it would be a long time before she could attend school again. The average weekly attendance was 103.9.

This next page from 1889 describes an epidemic of measles. It says that between 40 and 50 children were absent. Most of the infants had measles. They closed the school for one week because there were only a few children who didn’t have measles. The school was also closed on Monday due to a Sunday School treat.

The next page from 1918 is from the end of the First World War. The Reverend was present that morning, opening the school gates for the first time since the world war finished. They spoke a few words to the children about the recent armistice. They also sang the National Anthem. Two weeks later they found out that most of the German Navy had surrendered. 

The next page from 1939 is from the beginning of the Second World War. The Vicar came to the school to tell the children what to do if there was an air raid, because the enemies were trying to bomb and kill them.

This last page from 1939 is from the beginning of the Second World War. There is proof in this page that at least 5 evacuees joined the school from large cities. The nurse also came to check on the pupils and the Reverend Woodcock visited to help with the nativity show.

June flowers around Scalford

On Friday 5 June, we spent a morning identifying some of the wildflowers around Scalford. Below are some of the common ones we found and photographed.

 daisy

buttercup

 hawthorn

 red clover

 speedwell

 cow parsley

herb Robert

forget-me-not

 white dead nettle

 cowslip

 ground ivy

 red campion

 garlic mustard

 cuckoo flower (lady's smock)

 birdsfoot trefoil

 mouse-ear

brooklime

Solar Eclipse

On Friday 20 March there was a solar eclipse. The moon covered 89% of the sun and it happened at 9:32am. We looked at it through a telescope and the picture was projected onto a piece cardboard. It kept on getting colder because as the moon covered the sun it blocked out the heat. It was amazing and we may never see anything like this again in Scalford in our lifetimes.


Verity Musson

All About Our Church

Introduction

St Egelwin’s is the C of E parish church in Scalford. It was established by Egelwin in the fourth century.

Even though Egelwin’s brother was a king, he lived in a shack. He was poor and unhealthy and he devoted his life to God.

Saint Egelwin’s church is the only one named after him in the country! He is believed to be buried at the church.

by Evie

Changes

The church has been converted many times but there are three crucial points in its history. It probably started off as a wooden shed and then it got knocked down and rebuilt out of stone. Much later on in 1636 the spire fell down and they decided to leave it as a tower. However the Victorians were responsible for changing the church the most. They introduced pews, the pulpit, the organ and a new font. The main material used to build the church was ironstone because it used to be quarried not far from here.

by Esther

The Porch

The porch measures 14 feet by 12 feet. It also has carvings on the ceiling, including a man sticking his tongue out. On the floor there is a red stain and there are stories that this was blood from and old battle but it probably came from a stove that used to stand here.

by Evie

The Nave

The nave is the biggest and the main part of the church. It was built in 1150 and it has 3 aisles the north, the middle and the south. Although the church has lots of seating now, originally there were no seats except near the walls and maybe the pillars for older people. On one side of the nave the pillars are leaning which people like to go and see. Between each of the arches on each side of the nave were the arms of twelve tribes of Israel but these have long since disappeared. At the far end of the church there is the pulpit which is where the vicar preaches sermons. It was bought in 1859 and is beautifully carved. The book rest is held by an eagle, the symbol of St. John. Opposite the pulpit is the lectern which is where people read from the bible. It is made from oak and was given in memory of Mrs Ann Webster in 1895.

by Verity & Eleanor

Tombs 

In the North Aisle there are two beautifully pointed arches with flower mouldings. They were built over some tombs in the 14th century for a man named Haubeck and his mother. The family were Lords of the Manor in Scalford for a long time.

by Keira and Olivia

The Font

St Egelwin’s font can be clearly seen as you enter the church. The font is the second one the church has had and dates back to the 19th century. No one knows where the original stone font ended up. The new font is made out of marble with a terra cotta panel showing John the Baptist.

by Isabel and Kayla

The Chancel 

 

The chancel is at the east side of the church and it is the most holy part. In 1845 the Duke of Rutland restored the chancel after it collapsed in 1518. The red carpet running through the middle of the chancel has been there since 1965 and was given by a couple in memory of their parents.

The altar is at the east end of the chancel and is where Christians have bread and wine. An organ was built in 1859 for £150 and beside it some choir stalls were added.

by Jamie, Tommy & Ethan

The Old Clock 

The old clock has been moved next to the altar and you can see the cogs that are inside it. Before it was here it was in the tower.

by Louise

The Tower 

At the base of the tower is the belfry which is where the bells are rung this was also once used as a choir vestry. The bell tower has three bells: one was cast in 1595 another in 1615 and the third in 1616. In 1939 it was found that there were death watch beetles in the wooden framework so the bells were taken down so that repairs could be carried out.

by Elias and Lewis

St Egelwin's Church, Scalford

This term we have begun to find out more about our village church. We started by sketching parts of the inside.