St Peter`s Catholic Primary School Leamington Spa 1879

St Peter's Catholic Primary School
Leamington Spa
1879-2004
A Short History
by
David Howe
St Peter's Catholic Primary School
Leamington Spa
1879-2004
A Short History
by
David Howe
Published on the occasion of the 125th
anniversary of the existing buildings,
and to commemorate the
opening of the school's ICT suite.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the St Peter's Family:
school and parish, past and present.
Headteachers
Sister Regis Fitzpatrick
Sister Catherine Rhodes
Sister Ann Connolly
Mrs Winifred Swarbrick
Mrs Hilary Allen
Mrs Maria Murphy
1943
1971
1977
1983
1990
– 1943
– 1971
– 1977
– 1983
– 1990
–
Front Cover
St Peter's School and Convent (Windsor Cottage) c.1900-1909
Source: www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk
Design and Production
Paul Hamilton
Media Services Unit
Publication History
First Edition 2004
St Peter's Catholic Primary School
Augusta Place
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV32 5EL
St. Peter’s Catholic Primary School Leamington Spa
Mission Statement
The purpose of the school is to provide the highest
The purpose of the school is to provide the highest
possible quality of education within the context of
possible quality of education within the context of
the Catholic faith, so that Gospel values may
the Catholic
faith,and
soenrich
that Gospel
values
may
influence
the lives of
all.
influence and enrich the lives of all.
FOREWORD
Since the foundation stone for the new St Peter’s School buildings was laid in 1879, Education,
reflecting society, has experienced many changes. However, at St Peter’s one thing has remained
constant – the vision and work of the local Catholic community engaging its children in the process of
experiencing, learning about and reflecting on Jesus’ good news, that we are loved by God and that
love is central to human existence. Literacy, numeracy and technology are of course important but,
essentially, our children need to learn what life is for and how to live it, and here the gospel offers both
a vision and a challenge. Cardinal Hume asserted that education is only of value if it serves to make
our children more fully human, echoing St Irenaeus’ saying that “the glory of God is the human person
fully alive”
At St Peter’s we have a community which is alive with love, cooperation, hard work and a desire to
learn. I pay tribute to all those who over the past one hundred and twenty five years have built this
community – parents and children, priests and nuns, parishioners, governors, teachers and all
support staff. Few are mentioned by name in this book but the fruits of their work lives on abundantly
today.
Finally, I would like to thank David Howe for agreeing to research and write the book. He has been
wonderfully generous with his time, and his unfailing patience, courtesy and humour have opened
doors, not only to convents and nursing homes, but to the memories of those who have agreed to
share their experiences.
Maria Murphy
Headteacher
October 2004.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank as strongly as I can the following people who afforded me time, hospitality and all
kinds of memories, some of which I was regrettably forbidden to retell. But they were great fun to
hear.
So, many thanks to:
Mary Aitken
Jean Daly
Sister Marie Leahy
Father Aldo
Kim Davies
Kathleen Taylor
Hilary Allen
Wilf Feely
Peter Thompson
Margaret Begg
Zena Godwin
Maggie Wagstaff
Miss Broadley
Marie Hardie
Tony Walsh
Joe Cannon
Marianne Horne
Molly Carroll
Sister Ann Connolly
The following kindly entrusted me with precious photographs and memorabilia:
Doris Hall
Maureen Hazlewood
Maria Murphy
Ann Sayce
Kathleen Taylor
Eileen Twomey
Tony Walsh
David Howe
(October 2004.)
Note
The book is in a rough chronological order.
However, I have kept together as one section the
reminiscences of key personnel. In some cases, these sections cover a period of thirty years. Thus,
the story sometimes takes a few steps forward and then a couple back as we move to a fresh set of
reminiscences. Just like most of our lives really! Where possible, I have used direct quotation rather
than generalisation or summary. Quotations from the School logbooks have been reproduced exactly
as originally written. Thus, capital letters are sometimes used in ways that are no longer common
practice.
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SETTING THE SCENE
This publication does not seek to cover the earliest years of Catholic education in Leamington Spa, or
the years immediately following 1848, when the first school bearing the name of St. Peter was opened
in New Street. Two existing publications describe these events carefully and clearly. The book “A
Spa and its Children” by Frances O’Shaughnessy meticulously chronicles the development of the
education of the poor children of Leamington Spa throughout the nineteenth century and up to the
Education Act of 1902. A Warwick University assignment, submitted as part of the course requirement
for a B.Phil in Education by Sheila Stratford, completed in 1991, is a site study of the St. Peter’s
Schools which starts its story in 1847.
I have read both, and make some use of them for events from 1879 to the end of the century. The
significance of this particular date is that it is the date inscribed on the stone forming part of the wall
that lies at the front of the buildings in Augusta Place. Presumably, this date was of the laying of the
foundations, for the buildings were not complete and open until the summer of 1880, as this logbook
entry makes clear:
“School duties resumed on the 26th (July) in the New School Rooms after a holiday of one
month, being a week longer than our school holidays in consequence of the building not being
finished.”
(July 30, 1880)
This publication follows the precedent of the centenary celebrations in 1979:
“School re-opened and this year we will be celebrating the centenary of the school, although
the building wasn’t actually opened until 1880.”
(Jan. 8, 1979)
Builders failing to meet deadlines were clearly a familiar phenomenon, even in the nineteenth century.
The Coten End Board Schools in Warwick also opened a week later than scheduled in 1884, for
example.
New buildings were doubtless welcomed with relief and excitement. But the pupils who occupied
them were clearly much as children today, as this report by Her Majesty’s Inspectors in the latter days
of the old school shows. They accepted that the accommodation constrained the work of the school:
“The present room is ill adapted to the requirements of the school.”
but still went on to criticise standards of behaviour:
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“There is rather too much noise in the school at present. The girls are orderly, but the boys
are somewhat boisterous and noisy both in their involvements and in their way of answering.
The intelligence of the boys is considerably below that of the girls.”
Nowadays, we worry that nationally the boys lag behind girls in examination results. (Not true at St.
Peter’s incidentally.) We apparently worried less then because we were sure that the boys were much
less intelligent.
Perhaps the Inspectors were too critical. Perhaps the new buildings inspired greater achievement.
Within weeks of moving in, the logbook reported better news:
“The Reverend Mr Crewe visited the School on Monday and questioned the children ….. he
thought some of them rather intelligent.”
On reflection, the word “some” renders the compliment somewhat lukewarm.
Those early logbook entries told us little of the day-to-day teaching, but evidently the newly-built walls
and roof soon echoed to the mellifluous sounds of young voices. We learn that among new songs
taught were:
“Birdie’s Ball”
“Hearts and Flowers”
“I’m Coming Little Maiden”
“The Sunny Hours of Childhood”
A pre-occupation then and now was with levels of attendance:
“The attendance not so good this week, the Warwick Races have doubtless been the cause of
the absence of some.”
(Sept. 3, 1880)
and:
“The attendance has been very poor this week in consequence of the Flower Show”.
(Sept. 10, 1880)
Absent pupils there might have been, but visitors keen to see the new buildings and the school at work
were a regular event:
“The Managers and a gentleman friend visited on Tuesday.”
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and:
“Lady Cartwright and Lady Dormer visited the school.”
(Sept. 24, 1880)
A favoured method of instruction at the end of the nineteenth century, and well into the twentieth, was
the “object lesson”. The idea was to base work on a close study of “real life” things, either through
pictures or through objects brought into the classroom. The result was a bizarre and eclectic mix of
the everyday and the exotic : the lead pencil, tea, sugar ….. or the reindeer and the ostrich were all
studied at some point by the pupils of St. Peter’s.
In December 1883, a fire in St. Peter’s Church almost totally destroyed the whole building. The fire
occurred just six days before Christmas Day, but Canon Longman was able to arrange for the
Christmas Eve Mass to be celebrated in the School Hall.
At this time, many Catholic children lived in slums. They were ill-clothed and often suffering from
malnutrition. A so-called ‘Examination List’ (the counterpart of today’s statementing?) included the
following:
Kate B:
Deaf and weak intellect
Nellie M:
Weak intellect caused by starvation
Nellie W S:
A Decided Tendency to Idiocy
Soon after the new school opened, the Midland Electric Light Company was formed. In 1886, cables
were laid in Leamington and the first lights switched on. St. Peter’s would not be connected for many
years, but would have been near enough to see the glow of the 300 lights installed in the Town Hall,
opened just three years earlier on The Parade, at a cost of £20,000.
A NEW CENTURY
The logbooks record no special events to mark the arrival of a new century, but one year later we
read:
“Owing to the death of H.M. the Queen, the children’s tea-party has been postponed to some
future time.”
This terse entry marked the end of a reign that had lasted an astonishing and record-breaking sixty
four years. Literally millions of people had been born, lived their lives and died while Queen Victoria’s
reign continued.
5
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO AROUND THE TOWN
What was happening one hundred years ago, or twenty five years into the life of the new school?
There were signs of a broader and more practical curriculum:
“Examined children of the First Class in clay-modelling. Most of the boys made a very good
“carrot”.
(It is unclear whether the girls were generally less successful, or not given the same opportunity.)
Other entries were almost entirely confined to statistics on attendance.
Cars were still a rarity, but Leamington’s claim to be the birthplace for a type of motor vehicle has
substance : the Crowden Light Car was developed at the turn of the century by Charles T Crowden at
his motor works in Packington Place. Until 1896, vehicles propelled by steam, petrol or electricity had
by law to be preceded by a man on foot with a red flag, the earliest disincentive to breaking speed
limits.
New words entering the language provided some evidence of contemporary concerns. Examples
included ‘hangover’, ‘paranoid’, ‘clone’, ‘depression’ and ‘smog’.
In 1902 the ‘Free Library’ opened in Avenue Road, close enough to St. Peter’s to be an easy five
minutes’ walk. But prospective readers would not have found today’s relaxed welcome. One could
not browse, or even handle books. Instead, one placed a request for any books wanted, having
checked the details in copies of the catalogue that were chained and kept in the vestibule.
The first cinemas were opening. Leamington’s first was the Colonnade (where the Loft Theatre is now
situated). Seats cost from twopence to sixpence (2½ p). The films were silent, but dramatic music
was provided by a pianist and a violinist. A typical programme would include short films including
travelogues, and news items. Sixpence would have also got you into the Roller Skating Rink, opened
in Dormer Place.
A more adventurous and costly venture came in the form of the new trams, which ran between
Warwick and Avenue Road, arriving in Leamington via Warwick Street and The Parade.
Alfred Henn, a St. Peter’s pupil in the early part of the century, recalled joining St. Peter’s Guild, a club
for young people. The club had a very exciting piece of equipment, a phonograph (an early type of
gramophone with a very large horn). It played records then in the form of cylinders.
6
ATTENDANCE
This was taken so seriously that the Borough of Leamington had an Attendance Committee which
closely monitored schools such as St. Peter’s.
For the quarter ending October 30th 1909 in Leamington as a whole:
6503 visits were paid to 673 parents of 1052 children who were attending school irregularly.
It was found that:
750 were away sick
191 had other reasonable causes
111 were away without excuse
76 birth certificates had been received to prove the age of children who wished to leave school.
The story of one St Peter’s girl who did attend unfailingly can still tug at the heart-strings even now:
“A shadow was cast over the children’s holiday by the death of one of their Companions on
Christmas Day, Mollie Harrop aged 13. Mollie attended regularly and punctually even to the
last school meeting on the 23rd, when she went home to die. She was carried to the grave by
six of her companions.”
(January 1910)
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
The logbook entries for 1914 at first gave no sense of the grievous events that would follow:
“The Babies in the charge of their Teacher Miss Barry went down this morning to Victoria Park
for free play and conversation.”
(May 19, 1914)
Soon afterwards, the realities of War began to impinge on school life:
“Since the re-opening of the school, the war has been the basis of the lessons whenever
possible. The older girls make a diary of the leading events for the benefit of the whole
school.”
(Sept. 8,1914)
7
In the Autumn term, nine Belgian refugee children were admitted, five from a refugee home on the
Parade. Others would soon follow, thanks to the initiative of the rector, William Barry. Happily,
relations rapidly became cordial:
“Our children especially appreciated the items given by the little Belgians, who seemed quite
pleased to be able to contribute their little share of the performance.”
(Dec. 18, 1914)
In the following year:
“The children are keenly interested in the Military movements going on in town.”
(Jan. 19, 1915)
“The six girls representing the Allies are giving their dance, and singing the National Anthems
tomorrow for the Inmates of the Home of Incurables.”
(Oct. 29, 1915)
“Visit from Father Baneford on Wednesday. He came to say ‘Goodbye’ to the children before
leaving Leamington to join the forces as Army Chaplain.”
(Nov. 12, 1915)
“During the past fortnight, the garden adjacent the school playground has been dug up by the
girls, and potatoes, beans, peas, parsnips, carrots, lettuces and radishes have been sown.”
(Apr. 30, 1917)
“This being Aeroplane Week, 20 of the top standard were taken to see the Aeroplane which
was exhibited in the Pump Room.”
(Mar. 8, 1918)
AFTER THE WAR
Once the war was over, school settled back to worry over less distressing but rather familiar concerns:
“The language in this class (Class 2) is very distressing. Especially the omission of the letter
‘h’ “
(Jan. 16, 1923)
8
and:
“It is obvious that they (the children) need definite teaching and practice in distinct and refined
utterance.”
An ex-pupil of St. Peter’s, Fred Chew, reminisced about life between the wars. He recalled little of his
days in school, but had memories of his Saturdays: weekly trips to the Gas House to fill a pram with
coke, followed by a call at a wood yard in Warwick New Road to obtain a sack of logs. While at school
he went every year to the Mayor’s Treat for poor children at the Town Hall.
Whatever careers advice he received at St. Peter’s, he certainly demonstrated adaptability in later life.
His jobs included stints at “the medicinal waters at the Pump Room” and in the mortuary of the
Warneford Hospital.
He was also at different times a projectionist at the Regent Cinema, and
caretaker at the Art Gallery adjacent to the library in Avenue Road.
GAMES AND LEISURE PURSUITS
Games have always come into and out of fashion, and the inter-war children at St. Peter’s were no
exception in ringing the changes. Some activities were seasonal: ‘conkers’, and the illicit but highly
tempting ‘scrumping’, particularly when apple tree branches hung invitingly over garden walls. A few
continued sporadically throughout the year: whip and top, bowling the hoop, swinging around the lamp
post, football in the largely quiet streets etc. The river nearby and its often swiftly flowing currents
encouraged ‘pooh sticks’, the racing of sticks under the bridge.
Some activities depended on
availability, such as collecting ‘fagcards’. This particular activity sometimes led to practices that would
rightly dismay most adults now. For example, boys in particular thought nothing of approaching adults
who were smoking cigarettes to ask for their card. Children might positively exhort their parents to
speed up their smoking in order that a fresh packet could be opened, and a new card produced.
KATHLEEN TAYLOR (née Sheppard)
Kathleen Taylor started school at the end of the twenties. Her memories were first and foremost of
people: of Miss Broadley, who taught her and her daughter:
“so smart … lovely hat with a feather, always beautifully dressed. She was a pianist, and had
beautiful hands.”
She recalled Sister Regis:
“swishing her cane, especially if you missed Mass.”
She and the other nuns were never short of fearful warnings if one transgressed.
remembers being told:
9
Kathleen
“If you knitted on Sunday, you’d have to take it all out with your nose in Purgatory”, and so on.
One teacher whose name she can no longer recall suffered from deafness, to the extent that she
could not always judge how to pitch her own voice. She could read a poem, dropping her voice so low
as to be almost inaudible. Suddenly she would pounce on an unfortunate individual and demand that
she or he “repeat the last line”.
Her memories of Father Stansbridge were vivid but more unorthodox. When he died, the pupils were
taken to see him laid out in his coffin in the Presbytery. She was so shocked she reacted with nervous
giggles.
Then there were memories of major events …. of her First Holy Communion, followed by breakfast in
school:
“I can still smell the boiled eggs.”
and a trip afterwards to Kenilworth Castle with Miss Blunt and Mr Exworthy. Another unforgettable
day was that of the Silver Jubilee celebrations when King George V completed twenty-five years on
the throne in 1935. St. Peter’s had just a brief stroll to Victoria Park, where all the remaining schools
of Leamington assembled for choral singing and games.
One year Kathleen was May Queen, resplendent in blue dress and crown. She had to climb a
precarious ladder to place a floral crown on the statue of Our Lady.
Public productions were few, but an exception was a presentation of “The Dolls’ Wedding” in the Blue
Café in Bath Place. Favourite subjects were History and English; she remains, aged eighty, a keen
reader.
She travelled in daily from Lapworth (surely, one of St. Peter’s furthest-flung pupils ever?), bringing a
packed lunch of sandwiches, fruit and a drink, all of which were consumed in a room in the house
known then as the ‘Belgian Room’. (Was this where the Belgian refugees were taught during the First
World War?)
On a recent return visit she was amazed by the interior changes:
“It all looked so new …. Decent toilets for a start!”
She left school at fourteen and went to work at Lewis’s in Birmingham, before going into nursing. She
later married Stan Taylor, who himself taught at St. Peter’s before becoming a widely respected and
affectionately remembered Head of Our Lady and St. Teresa’s School, Cubbington for many years.
10
SCHOOL RESOURCES
A very important part of the reasons for this publication is the opening of the school’s ICT suite.
Information technology is giving today’s children opportunities for learning that were not long ago
almost literally unimaginable.
One way of putting this major event in the life of the school into perspective is to look back to other
moments when new resources prompted comment and excitement:
“Received a present of a very amusing mechanical toy for the use of the Infants.”
(Dec. 3, 1897)
“The requisition has arrived this week and it is found that some most necessary items have
been refused e.g. Blackboards for the children’s use which have been in the school for more
than fourteen years are almost white.”
(June 12, 1914)
“This afternoon a lady kindly lent her gramophone to the school. The children spent a very
enjoyable hour listening to the tunes of the popular war songs.”
(Oct. 9, 1914)
“A quantity of bread and butter and cake sent by the Bishop was given as a treat to the
children today.”
(June 21, 1922)
“A parcel of Magazines, medals and pictures sent to the children today from ‘Uncle Tim’
editors of the Immaculate Magazine.”
(Oct. 6, 1922)
“21 pairs of boots have been allotted to the Girls’ School from the Mayor’s Boot Fund.”
(Mar. 9, 1925)
“Standards V, VI and VII taken to the Bath Cinema this afternoon where they were shown a
very fine set of pictures on Animal and Bird life.”
(Dec. 13, 1929)
11
“This afternoon 40 of the senior girls attended a most informative lecture by Capt. Knight in the
Bath Cinema. They saw a wonderful film on the Hawk and the Osprey.”
(Nov. 21, 1930)
“Bishop Browne visited.
His Lordship was very interested in the new sewing machine
received this morning and in the 1st of a course of lessons which will be given to the Infant
Class by a lady from Singers.”
(July 16, 1931)
N.B. The logbooks for the next few decades are currently missing. We hope that one result of
this publication will be their rediscovery.
We can, however, say a little about the area in
general.
Most schools received electricity supplies in the thirties. This led to more and more schools showing
interest in the new wireless receiving sets.
St. Peter’s received a circular from the Education
Committee inviting applications to purchase such a set. But some schools had to wait until after the
end of the war for their electricity connection.
The 1950’s saw an acceleration in the purchase of another piece of technology : the television set.
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in June 1953 encouraged many schools to buy or hire a set. A
few years later a Teachers’ Centre opened in nearby York Road (above what was then the town
library). The centre had a collection of resources which schools could borrow, including film strips on
Captain Scott and King Alfred and a Phillips tape-recorder.
We have seen from the above entries that money for new resources was always scarce.
One
hundred years after the opening of the new buildings, little had changed:
“The Education Office informed me that I had overspent my Capitation Allowance by £1 and
required me to submit a cheque or have a Text book order returned.”
(Feb. 1, 1978)
WARTIME MEMORIES (1940-5)
Maureen Hazelwood came with her family as evacuees to settle in Leamington. They came at the
start of the war, and she and several of her cousins soon settled in at St. Peter’s; their names were
Pauline and Mary Dinan and Jo Doran. Two remember in particular Miss Broadley’s class:
“I was very happy there”
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she recalls, and has a photo of the May procession in (she thinks) 1942.
“As Maureen Maher I attended St. Peter’s from autumn 1941 to end of 1944. I remember with
particular affection Sister Finbarr in whose class I spent two happy years. By her practical
teaching of religion she had a greater influence on my faith than anyone else apart from my
parents. I shall never forget my First Holy Communion Day. It was the feast of Corpus Christi
and a perfect summer’s day. Sister insisted we were not to raise our heads after Communion
but simply to kneel and talk to Jesus. Afterwards it was breakfast in the parish hall with boiled
eggs, a treat for wartime children. In the afternoon we were taken for a picnic to Kenilworth
Castle.
I loved the processions at St. Peter’s. One Sunday every month we walked round the church
– I was in the Agnesians. In May we followed Our Lady’s statue round the presbytery garden.
Best of all, was Corpus Christi when we processed through the Pump Room Gardens.”
MEMORIES FROM MISS BROADLEY
Miss Broadley taught at the school from the early thirties to her retirement in 1963. Still alive and
mentally vigorous, now approaching her hundredth birthday, her first memories were of being taken to
St. Peter’s Church as a young child. (Her parents had married at the church). She attended the
Benediction for the Feast of Our Lady and watched the statue carried around the church, wondering
why it did not fall over. (It was, she later learned, kept up by a concealed piece of wood held vertically
through the centre).
Miss Broadley had and has many connections with local education. Her mother was a pupil teacher,
and her aunt was the first head at St. Mary’s School, then situated on the Stratford Road in Warwick
and opened in 1904. Miss Broadley trained at a Catholic college in Kensington, and worked at several
schools, including one in Birmingham, before settling to a thirty year stint at St. Peter’s. She was
always happy there, unlike the school in Birmingham, where she was:
“anything but happy.”
Her mother had encouraged her to apply for a vacancy at St. Peter’s, but at first she was reluctant to
do so. She was persuaded by the unequivocal advice of a G.P. and friend of the family who said of
her Birmingham headteacher:
“If she doesn’t leave that woman she’ll leave in a coffin.”
At St. Peter’s she worked first with Sister Regis (“very good”) whom she was sorry to see go with
failing eyesight. Sister Regis was replaced briefly by Sister Rupert who was not happy about the state
of the buildings and complained often. She was soon asked to move on and, in spite of her criticisms,
was reportedly in tears when strongly encouraged to leave. Sister Catherine arrived, and stayed for
13
some twenty years. Not everyone found her easy to work with. Miss Broadley recalls the Parish
Priest, Father Flint once saying:
“A good many of us would like to know what’s going on under that bonnet.”
But others had more affectionate memories.
Her wartime memories include the two shift system introduced in order to accommodate the Coventry
School that was evacuated to the St. Peter’s site. The church hall was commandeered for extra
classrooms. Some evacuees walked back home after a few days. Others never returned home. She
almost always taught the juniors. The older pupils who had not passed the eleven plus were often just
waiting to leave at fourteen, or, unofficially, even earlier. Thus their morale was sometimes low and
their attitudes apathetic, and they were not easy to enthuse.
One of her pupils in her latter years was one Maria Willis:
“a nice little girl and easy to teach.”
She joined the school in the mid fifties with her four brothers and sisters; the family had just arrived
from Ireland in August 1955, a time at which a number of families emigrated from Ireland to England.
Maria had two brothers and two sisters and was the middle child of the family. One wonders whatever
became of her!
One vivid memory Miss Broadley retains of Maria was seeing her standing somewhat dishevelled
early one morning with a bottle of milk and a loaf. It transpired that, before she set out to school,
Maria planned to return home to help make breakfast.
Another of Miss Broadley’s pupils was Stephen Clarkson, now a G.P. in Warwick.
Her philosophy was:
“keep their noses to the grindstone.”
Thus, discipline problems were almost non-existent.
Her farewell was a low-key event: a speech made by Father Davenport on the park during Sports
Day:
“I don’t know whether anyone heard it.”
Nevertheless, more than forty years after her retirement, she is still affectionately and clearly
remembered by many, including Maria Willis. (What did become of her?)
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A regular visitor to Miss Broadley is Marianne Horne, who attended St. Peter’s from 1946 to 1952.
Her mother also taught there.
Wartime and postwar staffing shortages were so great that The
Education Committee gave special dispensation to her mother to bring Marianne into school at the
age of three and a half, in order to secure the appointment of Mrs Horne to the teaching staff.
MEMORIES OF POST-WAR YEARS
As our story moves into the last fifty years of the school’s history, so we are able to paint a more vivid
and detailed picture. This is simply because many ex-pupils, staff and heads are, happily, alive, well
and living in or near Leamington.
Even more happily, they have been prepared to share their
memories of life at St. Peter’s, often with glee, always with friendly co-operation.
Jean Daly and Marie Hardie had cause to know the school well in the post-war decades.
Both attended St. Peter’s for seven years, Jean in the fifties and Marie in the sixties. Their mother,
Nellie O’Sullivan, was caretaker throughout this period and, indeed, until the end of the seventies.
Thus, the family lived in the house next to the school (now part of the school). Father, Hughie, worked
at Ford’s but still rose early each morning to attend to the boilers and get the coke fires going. Mrs
O’Sullivan interpreted her responsibilities widely. Apart from the daily cleaning and polishing of floors,
sinks, toilets and tables, she used to help in the playground at breaks and lunchtimes and during each
holiday she stripped and rewaxed the floors. She used to look after the child of a single-parent
working mum at the start and the end of each day ….. quite voluntarily. Another annual duty done
voluntarily by father was to ensure that the staff’s Grand National ‘bets’ were placed at the local
bookmakers. Sister Ann, a former headteacher, recalled him bringing the nuns in the adjacent house
a plate of cheese and a glass of Guinness each evening. Many pupils still remember Mrs O’Sullivan,
“the lady with the white hair from St. Peter’s”.
What memories did Jean and Marie have of their own schooling?
They recalled the rooms …… forty children in each, with daily chanting of tables to be learned (the
table charts were on the walls around the rooms).
There were regular spelling tests, with much emphasis on the IE/EI bugbear. Each morning, Jean and
Marie walked the tiny distance from home to school in their navy gymslips, white blouses and red ties.
The boys wore grey shorts and shirts …. and red ties. Both have memories in their final year of lots of
work on eleven plus practice papers. All the religious festivals were scrupulously observed, prayers
and grace were said each day, although whole school assemblies were rare.
They enjoyed lots of stories, and, for music, listened to records of “The Nutcracker Suite” and “Swan
Lake” on the gramophone, or joined in with “Singing Together”, a schools’ music broadcast of the time.
P.E. was segregated, the boys often using balls while the girls hurled beanbags and whirled skipping
ropes. The phrase ‘Equal Opportunities’ was not yet even on the horizon.
15
Of course, many memories were of the school dinners which arrived daily by van in large tins:
mashed potato (never chips) ….. “disgusting”
broad beans …. Some ‘meat and veg’ combination, perhaps mushed up in stew, followed by
rice pudding.
Or (on a good day) chocolate cracknel. One favourite memory was of the boy who asked the server
for “toad without the hole please”. The dinner ladies (they were all ladies then) used to ensure that
children from poorer homes were called first for second helpings. Leftovers were saved in a metal
dustbin and collected by a farmer for his pigs.
Discipline was typically strict. One male teacher used a slipper to wallop miscreant boys, but girls
were not caned or slippered. Their ultimate deterrent was to be sent to Sister Catherine who had a
formidable presence in her full regalia, all with a “very stern face.”
Trips out were rare, and there were no inter-school sports fixtures or even, in spite of the proximity of
the public gardens, any school sports day. However, there was an annual procession to the Pump
Room Gardens in May, when the girls, clad in white dresses, strewed rose petals from gold baskets.
There were visits to the swimming baths (where the library now stands), but only one visit to the
nearby cinema is recalled : to see a showing of “The Ten Commandments”.
Some travelling in the area resulted from sheer lack of space. At different times, lessons took place in
the Church Hall, now the Parish Centre, at the original Boys’ School in New Street and at what is now
St. Patrick’s School, in Cashmore Avenue, but was then an annexe.
Playtimes saw the girls playing hopscotch, tig, and French skipping, while the boys played football,
using the shed beside the boys’ and girls’ outside toilets as a goal.
If the exertions exhausted the pupils, they could always seek sustenance from the liquorice and the
chocolate teacakes, on sale at morning playtime. There was also the school milk supply : one third
pint bottles in crates, frozen in the winter, and sickly warm in hot weather.
So, discipline was firm and the daily round only occasionally enlivened by breaks from routine.
But,
as always in school, there were moments that raised a laugh at the time and still today elicit a
reminiscent chuckle. One was in a class praying for the sick. One pupil requested a special prayer for
her mum:
“Oh dear. I am sorry. I didn’t know she was sick. What’s the matter with her?” (Teacher)
“She says she’s sick of me dad,” came the reply.
Another memory came during an R.E. lesson conducted by Father Knight. When he asked if pupils
had any questions to ask him, he received an instant, anxious enquiry:
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“When are you going?”
TONY “BANGER” WALSH (né John Sheehan)
Without doubt, one of the best-known ex-pupils of St. Peter’s is former wrestling star Tony Walsh. I
was able to interview him for this book at his recently-opened offices: Walsh House, in Cubbington.
These prestigious premises had been officially opened less than a month before my visit ….. by the
Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, Leader of the Opposition. Tony’s office walls are a ‘Who’s Who’ of sport
and show business: signed photos from those with whom or on whose behalf Tony has worked: Bob
Geldof, Mick Jagger, Mick Hucknall, Frank Bruno, Brian Clough …… and past managers and players
of the Coventry City Football team. Tony is rightly proud of what he has achieved:
“Not bad for a kid from Leamington.”
But he has never forgotten his roots. He can still recall with enthusiasm and gratitude teachers who
helped him: Mr Taylor, Sister Marie and (more warily) Sister Catherine who was very strict: “She had
a leather strap.”
He is one of six children, all of whom attended St. Peter’s. He started school in September 1954, and
within three months his mother (an ex-St. Peter’s pupil herself) died of a thrombosis. Just before
Christmas! The family then moved in with his ‘nan’ and aunt. His fellow pupils would then have
known him as John Sheehan. He changed his name when he became a professional wrestler, taking
his middle name ‘Anthony’, and his mother’s maiden name: ‘Walsh’.
His memories of school include playing football in the playground, and kicking the ball over the wall
into the printing works next door. He played for the school football team and recalls the help he
received from team coach Stan Taylor. The school was very tightly disciplined, but he always got on
with the teachers.
When one considers all Tony has done and met since, one can only be impressed by his recall of
those early days:
of the parish priests: Fathers Flint, Kelly and Stans, and of his First Holy
Communion, or of his school friends: Frankie Daly, Daniel Whooley, Michael Andrews and John
Dolan. He is still good friends with several of them, for example Miah Robinson, who runs a taxi firm
in Leamington, and John Canning whose wife Jayne Canning worked as a teaching assistant at St.
Peter’s School for twenty years from 1983 to 2003.
John Canning lost three sisters in a tragic
drowning accident in Leamington in the sixties. These too were pupils at St. Peter’s. Another ex-pupil
Tony sees regularly is Sean Philpott, Head of Science at Princethorpe College.
Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association there. He can deservedly claim that:
“I’ve always kept my roots.”
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Tony is now
In a career diverse and distinguished he has been or is boxer, wrestler, actor, author, after-dinner
speaker, chauffeur and now head of a multi-million pound enterprise, Mayfair Security Service. His is
almost literally a ‘rags to riches’ story, hard to foresee for the little five-year-old, one of six, with no
mum and whose early talents were in sports. He remains proud of his family, his school and his home
town. And they are certainly proud of him.
FIFTY YEARS AGO : 1954
Once again, we pause to assess the political, cultural and social events of the time, by listing some of
the words entering the language fifty years ago. These included cone (as in traffic), ‘cha cha’,
Common Market, data-processing (yes, it really is that old), discotheque, identity crisis, rock and roll,
stereo and Teddy Boy. A phrase entering the language would be given an ironic twist thirty-six years
later : ‘Murphy’s Law’.
SISTER ANN AND SISTER MARIE
I had the chance to interview former members of staff, Sister Ann and Sister Marie, at their home at
St. Paul’s Convent, Selly Park in Birmingham. Their experiences as teachers and, in Sister Ann’s
case as headteacher too, covered a period from the end of the forties to the mid-seventies. Their
memories were numerous, from one of Sister Regis, a previous head, who used to quieten noisy
children outside by turning the hosepipe on and pointing it at them through the window, to the teacher
who used to ensure that her class’s test results were good, by providing the answers in advance.
Sister Ann recalled with clarity and indignation the way in which, as headteacher, she learned that the
future of the school was in peril. Of course, the buildings were not ideal. Some classes had nearly 50
children in them, and it was difficult even to get in through the door. In warm weather, one teacher
kept a bowl of water and a sponge for the purpose of mopping fevered brows. Nevertheless, the head
and staff were very committed to the school.
Imagine therefore Sister Ann’s surprise when she
attended a routine heads’ meeting and heard a diocesan representative speaker utter the chilling
words:
“St. Peter’s, of course, will have to close.”
Sister Ann recalls:
“It hit me like an arrow …… on the way home, I couldn’t stop crying.”
Sister Ann moved to another job soon afterwards, alarmed at this threat of closure.
Of course, she had known that the school was overcrowded. She used to walk to the old boys’ school
premises in New Street, where two of the junior classes were housed. While this was clearly not ideal,
it did have its benefits in giving her the chance to spot any conspicuous truants. Once, she found a
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habitual truant (male) up to his neck in the lake in Jephson’s Gardens. She hastily enlisted the help of
some nearby surprised men, and they pulled the lad to safety. Whether immersion and near death in
the water was worse or better than facing the wrath of this unexpected sister of mercy, history does
not relate.
Both Sisters Ann and Marie recalled usually good behaviour, with just the odd incident like the lad, not
very bright, who asked to go to the toilet, did not return, and was eventually found in the street outside,
inexplicably sweeping the pavement with dustpan and brush.
She moved to a job in her native North East, where she then realised how docile and cooperative her
staff at St. Peter’s had been. Staff at Newcastle argued, interrupted and challenged her ideas, a quite
different experience from the:
“Happy homely meetings at Leamington.”
Doris Hall, whose children attended St. Peter’s, has memories of the sixties ….
“Mr Michael Hall came to Leamington in January 1961 to take up a teaching post at the newly
opened Dormer High School, Myton Road, and Stella Mary and her brothers and sisters and I
came in the April of that year when he had found us a home to live in. The rest of the
children’s names were in age order: Michael, Claire, Sarah, Timothy, Vivienne (captain of the
Netball Team) and Rachel (also played in the team, later went on to represent her
Independent Girls’ School, Kings High, in the English, All England Girls Netball Team),
Andrew and last but not least Adrian.
It was Sister Catherine who appointed me a governor of the school in 1970, which I still am.
She gave me wonderful support in all manner of ways which helped to strengthen my faith
also.”
MISS CARROLL: MEMORIES
Miss Carroll served for some twenty five years, arriving at St. Peter’s in the early sixties. She moved
from Yorkshire to be nearer to her married sister. She confessed that her memories were now vague,
although she is fondly remembered by former pupils and colleagues.
She was anxious to play down any talk of her impressive record:
“You had a job to do and you just got on with it.”
She felt that her memories were no longer vivid because nothing awful happened:
“It wasn’t as though we had great outrages ….. “
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If trouble arose:
“You took it all in your stride.”
The severest sanction that she could recall ever administering was:
“a slap on the wrist.”
She returned often to memories of happy times:
“I enjoyed my time when I was teaching ….. it was a happy school, with lots of laughter.”
Though she no longer remembers the events that marked her retirement, they did include the delivery
of a papal blessing.
WILF FEELY: DEPUTY HEAD
Wilf Feely was Deputy Head at the school in the late sixties and early seventies. His job as deputy
was to be in charge of boys’ games, and he taught a year 5/6 class in the annexe on the church site,
now the Parish Centre. This meant that, as a deputy, he did not meet colleagues or see children in
the main building as often as he would have liked. However, for one term he was Acting Head when
Sister Ann was ill. This enabled him to establish himself in the main school, and to prepare himself for
headship, first in Solihull and then at St. Anthony’s.
Many of his memories were of activities that today would contravene Health and Safety regulations,
though no-one ever came to harm. He recalls getting children to push-start his unpredictable Ford
Anglia down the slope alongside the buildings at the end of the school day. (At his home, then in
Northampton, he had to park at the top of a hill to have any chance of starting.)
He replaced the car with a mini-van in which he packed the whole of the school football team for
various away matches. Home matches were on Victoria Park. At least sport gave him the chance to
meet and share experiences with other deputies, for there were then no training opportunities for this
key role.
WHITHER THE SCHOOL : THE SEVENTIES
Meanwhile, the future of the school was taking up time at the meetings of the Education Committee at
Shire Hall.
In 1970, the authority submitted proposals for five building projects. The proposals included a new
school for St. Peter’s at a gross cost of £89,050. The authority had proposed a site “in the Milverton
area”, but the Diocesan Schools Commission favoured a school in the Pound Lane area, in order to
20
reduce pressure on St. Anthony’s, Sydenham. The Milverton site was near to the Trinity School site
(then Bishop Bright Grammar School). The Pound Lane proposal worried those at Our Lady and St.
Teresa’s, Cubbington. The head thought that it might siphon off some of their pupils.
The proposals were subsequently swamped by stringent financial cutbacks, however, following the oil
crisis of 1973.
JOE CANNON
Joe Cannon, now head of St. Anthony’s, spent a year at St. Peter’s in the mid-seventies. He replaced
Wilf Feely as the year six teacher (and would subsequently replace him as head at St. Anthony’s). He
came from an inner-city Wolverhampton school, and a first impression was of the dull uniformity of
much of the resources. In those days, schools were obliged to purchase all stock from County Stores,
and exercise books etc. conveyed an unfortunate impression of cheap, drab sameness.
Sister Ann had been replaced by Mrs Swarbrick, who was headteacher from 1977 to 1983. She
presided over a period when education was under attack, first from Labour Prime Minister, James
Callaghan and then his replacement, Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Her
government was elected in 1979, a significant date for the school.
1979 : CENTENARY YEAR
Technology was changing our work and our play. We were starting to use ‘video text’, ‘voice mail’ and
to ‘download’ information. Or we could relax with ‘Space Invaders’, at a Karaoke evening, or just look
forward to getting a ‘dish’. If we were thus in danger of becoming ‘couch potatoes’, we could try
‘bungee jumping’, or get on a ‘mountain bike’, provided that we did not ‘bottle out’. The day might end
with a tussle with a Rubik cube.
The election of Margaret Thatcher as our first-ever woman Prime Minister in 1979 was also changing
our language. We might jocularly call her ‘the leaderene’ or ‘her indoors’, but the ‘exit polls’ had
clearly predicted her success. We could now expect ‘downsizing’ as part of an ‘enterprise culture’.
Finally, a new and exclusive means of transport appeared: the Popemobile! Used by the Pope, there
was a Mass at Baginton when he visited the Midlands in 1980, an unforgettable event for the Catholic
community for many miles around.
The minutes of the Governors’ meetings from the early eighties onwards showed how pressures on
time and agendas grew. Early meetings were often attended by five governors only, but numbers
increased and agendas lengthened.
Concern over the future of the school was never far away. In February 1982, the governors’ minutes
reported:
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“concern ….. about possible closure of the school ….. “
Three months later a little relief was reported:
“Mr Ridger (County Education Officer) said that the school would not close till 1986 at the
earliest.”
Two years later the governors appealed to the authority for extra staffing and for the building of indoor
toilets. St. Peter’s was one of the last schools in the county to rely totally on outside toilets. But the
authority’s budget was under great pressure, and no help was forthcoming.
In June 1987 the school held its first meeting where governors met and reported directly to parents.
Their experience was, sadly, replicated nationwide : seven governors came …. and just six parents.
One would evidently have to threaten closure to turn out the parent body, even on a summer evening.
SOME MEMORIES FROM HILARY ALLEN
Hilary Allen was head of the school from 1983 to 1990, but her association with the school was much
longer than that. She was appointed to the teaching staff in 1968, and remained for 22 years.
Before coming to St. Peter’s her teaching career had been much more diverse, including a short spell
at St. Joseph’s Convent, Kenilworth, and stints in various army schools abroad. Clearly, she liked St.
Peter’s, because she settled there until her retirement. She became Deputy Head when Miss Carroll
retired, and head following the retirement of Mrs Swarbrick.
Some of her abiding memories were of toilets, especially those times in winter when they froze, and
the children had to be sent home. She and the governors campaigned doggedly over many years for
indoor toilets, but their efforts received only belated success ….. after she had left.
She too led the school through periods of uncertainty. The school was for a time a First School,
without the older pupils who mainly transferred to St. Anthony’s. This was not helpful to parents
wishing to see children off to both schools. Other memories included the determined loyalty of parents
and the strong support of the governing body. Her teaching highlights included taking the children to
see the Queen on her Jubilee visit to Leamington, close to Queen Victoria’s brooding statuesque
presence, on the Parade. The Queen made a point of coming to talk to some of their children. A less
grand but nonetheless vivid memory was of finding a dead cat in the cellar. (No hard felines?) Her
retirement gifts included brassware from the parents, and a stone statue of a pig from the children.
The latter is today on the patio at her home in Wales.
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THE GOVERNING BODY
Zena Godwin was Chairman of the Governing Body from 1988-2000.
Hers was a significant
appointment in many ways. She was the first “lay” chairman, the nominee of the outgoing Chairman,
Father Gwinnett. One of her earliest tasks was to lead the process that would culminate in the
appointment of Maria Murphy (née Willis) as Headteacher. The two worked closely to lead the school
through twelve years during which they would have to manage the vast volume of government
legislation.
A small moment at the time of the headship interviews helped to initiate a productive and goodhumoured relationship. As Maria Murphy entered the room for her interview, Zena, wishing to be kind
and welcoming, pointed to a small table and informed Maria that she could use that to put down her
papers.
“Papers? Oh dear. I’m afraid I haven’t brought any papers. Should I have done?” thought a
slightly flustered headship candidate.
Zena recalls clearly one significant line in Maria’s reference:
“If you appoint Maria Murphy, it’ll be a happy school.”
She paid tribute to Maria’s total dedication, her meticulous reading of the avalanche of documents that
threatened almost literally to engulf the small school and her keenness to work closely with her still
relatively new Chairman. Zena not only came into school regularly for informal meetings, but went into
school twice a week to help with reading, sold raffle tickets and generally immersed herself in school
life.
As school numbers grew, and paperwork assumed blizzard-like proportions, they established for the
first time governor sub-committees to scrutinise work in more detail.
Margaret Begg has been a governor for some twenty years, and is currently Vice-Chairman. Though
not a Catholic herself, she has come to value much about the school’s Catholic ethos, for example the
tradition of starting each governors’ meeting with a prayer, and the family feeling within the school.
Her most vivid memories are of the consultation meetings on the future of the school, with:
“councillors and officers on the stage on hardback chairs, almost as if awaiting the gallows.”
Parents who spoke were clearly very well-briefed and spoke “fervently”.
She recalls the fondness the parents had for the school’s special family feeling, but also some of the
concerns they raised over the problems that can come with an urban location. For example, many
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were initially concerned when a drop-in centre for the unemployed was opened across the road and,
later, a drugs centre opened almost next door. But time, goodwill and consideration on all sides have
gradually eroded anxieties.
She has made a point of sitting in on School Council meetings when possible, and has been very
impressed with the children’s maturity and responsibility.
MORE UNCERTAINTY
Yet another threat to the school came when the LEA announced consultation on a county-wide reorganisation plan. This was early in the nineties and had three principal objectives:
a)
to eliminate surplus places, and thus save money.
b)
to change the age of transfer from twelve to eleven years of age.
c)
to replace first and middle schools by all through (5-11) primary schools.
The word “unique” was to occur time and again in the discussions and paperwork that ensued. The
head and the Chair of Governors immediately sent a joint letter to parents stating:
“We are in a unique position.”
Indeed the school was. In its first round of proposals for county schools, the authority uniquely made
no proposal at all for St. Peter’s. Some authority officials privately thought that a public area debate
would itself show that St. Peter’s was no longer needed. The church authorities knew that, given
proximity of other Catholic schools such as St. Anthony’s, St. Patrick’s and St. Mary’s, the case for St.
Peter’s was, on paper at least, precarious. The children then attending came from all directions, often
at some distance.
The church and the authority agreed to await the development of the debate both within the school
and in the area to see if, how and where support was amassing. The school mounted a powerful case
for its survival based on its history, its unique nature and its growing numbers. Help rolled in from
parents and from the Trinity School. A letter typical of many came from Diana and Martin O’Reilly,
who had moved from London and placed their children at St. Peter’s. They spoke of:
“ ….. a caring and committed staff …. excellent teaching ….. “
The head’s particular brand of smiling, tenacious resolve won many hearts and minds, and the revised
consultation document in 1994 did have a proposal: that St. Peter’s become an all through 4-11
primary school.
Ironically, the school then moved from uncertain future to county trail-blazer. Owing to limitations on
the ages at which children could be ‘bussed’ around, the school had hitherto retained some pupils to
24
the age of nine, one year longer than other local first schools. Thus, when schools such as Westgate
prepared to change from 4-8 to 4-11, they were encouraged to learn from St. Peter’s who were always
one year ahead in retaining each extra year group.
THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
At the end of May 2002, the school celebrated the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Maria Murphy reported it
thus:
“All the children came to school dressed in Red, White and Blue. The day began with a
Special Jubilee Assembly when we sang songs from the 1950s. During the day the children
took part in traditional indoor games and outdoor playground activities. The whole school had
lunch together in the hall in the style of a street party. Food was provided for every child.
(Wallpaper/trestle tables were loaned for the day by parents). After lunch The Mayor, George
Darmody and Councillor Margaret Begg talked to the children about changes during the past
50 years in Royal Leamington Spa. The PTFA funded a special gift of a sovereign for every
child to commemorate the Golden Jubilee; it is something we hope will be treasured. These
were presented by officers of the PTFA dressed as members of The Royal Family. Thank you
to parents, staff, governors and children who helped to make the day such a wonderful
success. We featured as an item on national television news and the local press.”
FATHER ALDO: PARISH PRIEST
The present Parish Priest, Father Aldo, is not a governor but acts as a “chaplain” to the school. He
visits every two to three weeks, says Mass and talks informally to the children. He enjoys these
meetings, even though the children strive doggedly to search for religious answers to even the most
secular of questions.
After working with schools all over the Midlands in Coventry, Staffordshire, Worcester and Oxfordshire
he recalls being “horrified” by his first sight of St. Peter’s:
“It was like stepping back into another era.”
He had seen no schools like it, except perhaps in remote parts of Ireland. But the children and staff
won him over to the view that:
“Small certainly can be beautiful.”
To him the head personifies the school …… “pervading every inch”.
One distinct advantage of its location is its proximity to the church: groups of children come every
week to Mass, in addition to those that take place in school.
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SOME INSPECTORS CALL
The future of the school seems strong indeed, given its recent “notices” by the critics. In April 2003,
OFSTED reported:
“ ….. a very effective school ….. pupils achieve standards that are above the national average
….. the school is very well led and teaching is often very good.”
In so reporting, the inspectors were able fully:
“to endorse all the parents’ positive views of the school.”
A few months later the Archdiocese sent two inspectors to examine specifically provision of religious
education, and to report on “pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development”. They were if
anything even more complimentary …. almost fulsome:
“The leadership of the headteacher is excellent.”
“The governing body provides very good support and challenge.”
“The behaviour of pupils is excellent.”
“Teaching is of a very good quality.”
“The prayer life of the school is excellent.”
THE PARENT, TEACHER AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION
Small school it may be, but the generosity quotient of the staff and parents has proved to be very
large, and there is no better illustration of that generosity than the work of the PTFA: Parent-Teacher
and Friends Association.
As the school has grown from first to primary, so the mix of parents from young to …. er ……. slightly
less young has developed.
The PTFA runs a number of very popular, highly successful events each year. As current PTFA
Chairman, Kim Davies put it:
“They all turn up. It’s a lovely environment.”
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There is the annual school fair with a mix of the traditional:
“white elephant stall” and the modern:
“Splat the rat!” Once sited in the church car park, the fair has now returned to the school playground,
and the organisers pray each year for good weather in June, which they certainly received in 2004.
There is the termly school disco for reception upwards. The summer version is combined with a
barbecue. Every Christmas, each child receives a gift from the PTFA: the most recent example was a
gym bag each.
One might expect a small school with a scattered catchment area competing with larger local
attractions to struggle to raise much money. Not so; the traditional “Lent Games” (sponsored swims
etc.) have raised £1600 for charity. The fair makes over £1000 in clear profit, and even the discos,
with their modest entrance fees, raise £300 each year. Staggering sums for a school of just over 100
pupils!
Funds raised for school are used both for “seed money”: to help building projects, and to buy muchneeded equipment : computers, musical instruments and so on.
The school is also indebted to support from many local sponsors.
All these various ventures are nearly always hard work, and usually fun.
They rely on a small
committee who meet every six weeks with the Head, backed by an army of willing mums and dads
ready to turn out when needed to put out, put up, dismantle and clear up.
Why bother? There must be better ways of spending precious time than selling fudge, or watching
balloons race one another, or supervising the Bacchanalian cavortings of a primary school disco. As
Kim Davies put it, with a joyous gleam in her eye:
“We’re doing it for the children. That’s what we’re there for.”
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
The head invited the School Council, another recent and effective innovation, to discuss what they
expected and hoped to see in the future. This was at its fifth meeting in April 2004 and the ideas
poured forth:
“Own laptops with finger-point log on.”
“Each desk to have its own screen and keyboard.”
“Buzzer to replace the bell.”
“Slides to replace the stairs, with electronic stairs to bring you up again”
“A television link for homework and for absent pupils.”
“A time machine for history lessons.”
“Grass on the top playground.”
“Surveillance cameras.”
“A roller coaster.”
Clearly, within the elderly walls of St. Peter’s, a glowing technological future is envisaged.
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IN SUMMARY
Two words have recurred often in my readings and my conversations on the subject of St. Peter’s.
Those words are “unique” and “happy”. The first refers to the nature of the school itself. There is
certainly no other example in Warwickshire or in nearby areas of a small urban school housed in
buildings 125 years old. The second refers to the memories of pupils, staff and governors past and
present. Long may the school retain its special blend of hard work and happiness.
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APPENDIX A
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ICT AT ST. PETER’S (Based on notes provided by Maggie Wagstaff)
Given that one of the reasons for this publication is to commemorate the opening of the school’s ICT
suite, it seemed appropriate to write a short account of the events that led up to this exciting event …..
and to a spanking new computer suite within walls that existed before even the availability of
electricity.
Events started with the arrival of a BBC computer, then propelled into action by a tape-recorder.
(Remember tape-recorders?) The older children wrestled with adventure games such as Granny’s
Garden, while the younger ones learnt to use the concept keyboard (which could double as a tea tray!)
A particular favourite for them was “Moving In”, because it involved putting furniture into a house.
Reception children enjoyed placing toilets in improbable locations.
Early word-processing meant
‘Folio’, but temperamental printers led staff to adapt rapidly : captions only on bad days, and full-blown
stories on good days.
By the time the county switched to Acorn Archimedes machines, children were talking about the much
superior PCs they had at home.
As more funding became available, schools were required to produce an ICT policy. To keep up with
the Jones’s, St. Peter’s had to identify a space for its first computer suite, and an unpromising craft
cupboard area was given a new role. Cabling and network points were fitted in where possible, and
the server was placed in the staff room.
When the computers were networked they should have all printed to a ‘local’ printer but a gremlin in
the works saw work being printed out arbitrarily in different rooms and children went on pilgrimages
around the school to find their printout.
When the ICT co-ordinator left, Maria Murphy took on the role and embraced a steep learning curve (if
one can embrace a curve, and if anyone can, MM can!) with enthusiasm. Her e-mail output rapidly
soared. One summer Maria decided that all the children’s reports were to be written on the computer
and a template was loaded for the procedure …. then the fun began. Teachers’ tempers frayed and
tears were even shed! There was a summer evening when they all needed printing off and the printer
went on strike …. parents, governors and me were all being press ganged into finding a replacement,
which invariably wouldn’t work on the system. The deadline for reports to go out got ever closer and
somehow Maria got it done, I think by standing by the printer and demanding that it behave! They
must have survived the ordeal though, because reports were subsequently produced in the following
years on the computer!
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APPENDIX B
A SELECT TIMELINE (1822-1884)
This covers school openings in Leamington from the very first to those immediately following the
opening of the present St. Peter’s
1822:
Leamington’s first school for poor children opens : All Saints National.
1828:
First St. Peter’s Church opens in George Street.
1834:
Two non-denominational Infant Schools open in Guy Street and Ranelagh Terrace.
1838:
Wesleyan School opens in Windsor Street.
1840:
Congregational School opens in Spencer Street Chapel.
1842:
St. Mary’s School opens in Holly Walk.
1847:
Catholic Poor Schools Committee established.
1848:
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Boys’ School opens in New Street.
1850:
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Girls’ and Infants’ School opens in Augusta Place.
1850:
Convent for the Sisters of the Charity of St. Paul opens in Augusta Place.
1861:
St. Margaret’s Church of English School opens in Whitnash.
1863:
Baptist Girls’ and Infants’ School opens in Clarendon Street.
1864:
The new St. Peter’s Church opens in Dormer Place.
1865:
St. Mary Magdalene Church of England School opens in Lillington.
1876:
St. John’s Church of England School opens in Tachbrook Street.
1879:
Foundation stone laid for present St. Peter’s School.
1880:
Present St. Peter’s School is opened under supervision of Rector Vernon CaveBrowne Cave.
1883:
St. Peter’s Church almost totally destroyed by fire.
1884:
Reconstructed church opens eleven months after fire.
1884:
Leamington School Board opens schools in Leicester Street and Shrubland Street.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL
“A Spa and its Children” by Frances O’Shaughnessy (for Leamington Literary Society: 1979)
“More Looking Back” (Leamington Literary Society : 1980)
“A Last Look Back” (Leamington Literary Society : 1983)
“Royal Leamington Spa”
Part I : Social Life
Part 2 : Town Growth
Part 3: On the Move
All by W G Gibbons ( Published by Jones-Sand Publishing)
“Around Royal Leamington Spa in Old Photographs” collected by Jacqueline Cameron (1991)
“Around Royal Leamington Spa in Old Photographs” collected by Jacqueline Cameron (1994)
“The Leamington We Used to Know” (Leamington Literary Society 1997)
“Royal Leamington Spa” by Lyndon F Cave (Phillimore 1988)
“The Book of Royal Leamington Spa” by John H Drew (Barracuda Books Ltd 1978)
”Willingly to School” by David Howe (Warwickshire Publications : 2003)
SPECIFIC
“St. Peter The Apostle” : A Parish Profile (Feb 2004)
“St. Peter’s School, Augusta Place, Leamington Spa : A Site Study” by Sheila Stratford (1991). An
assignment submitted as part of the B.Phil Ed. At Warwick University.
Governors’ Minutes
School logbooks
Correspondence files
School Prospectus
Minutes of the County Council Education Committee
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A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
David Howe was formerly English Inspector and Chief Inspector with the authority from 1979-1992.
He also taught in Warwickshire, and is currently a governor at two local schools. He is an Associate
Fellow at Warwick University.
He recently published a history of education in Warwickshire to
commemorate the centenary of Warwickshire County Council as Local Education Authority in July
2003.
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St. Peter’s School playground 1949 or 1950?
Back Row (left to right) Brenda Farr, Hazel Harte, Ethna Gay, Carol Chapman, Eileen Fisher, Linda
Higgins, Ann Worrall, Monica Carter
Middle Row: Marjorie Baker, Elizabeth Nangle, Mary Linane, Mary Decourey, Monica Farrell, Eva
Bullen, Joyce Sheffield, Agnes Colllins, Eileen Halford, Margaret King, Eileen King, Mary Donahue
Front Row: Wendy Hawkeys, Eileen Bickerstaff, not known, Jackie Sharpe, Maureen Barriscale,
Maureen Bragg, Teresa Preston, Sylvia Dixon, Sylvia Jeffrey, Ann Hawkes
First Holy Communion June 5th 1958
The picture includes (left to right)
Sister Marie, Father Flint, Father Kelly, Father Stans and Sister Catherine
Also can you spot among the children a future headteacher of St. Peter’s?
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Sister Catherine returns for her farewell presentation
From left to right: John Beaver, Sister Catherine, Mr and Mrs Barton and Father Gwinnett
Miss Carroll’s Christmas Party 1966
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Two reports from 1967 and 1973
Illustrate growing expectations in the amount of detailed comment supplied
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First Communion Class: 1968
Names recalled by Maureen Hazelwood (nee Maher) are:
Back Row: left to right Miss Costello, Sister Catherine, Martin Harrison,
Alan O’Sullivan, Finton Murphy, ?, Michael Mg., Paul Byrne, Paul Woodcote
2nd Row: Angela Eslinger, ?, ?, ?, Christine Curtain, ?
3rd Row: Ann Cunningham, Tina, Rachael, Peggy Canning, Christine Cutely
4th Row: Kevin Kane, John, Conrad Burke, Andrew, ?,
with Sister Bernadette on the end
St. Peter’s Netball Team c.1969
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A very early photograph of Tony ‘Banger’ Walsh with his younger brother Dennis
and sisters Pat and Maureen
Staff group photograph
Back row from left to right: Mrs Bailey, Miss Blewett, Sister Ignatius, Stan Taylor and Mrs Styles.
Front row from left to right: Miss Cox, Miss Shelley, Sister Catherine and Mrs Grenden.
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School trip to Wicksteed Park in the late Fifties.
Whole school photograph 2004
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The school today