Phylis Olive Minnie Wells nee Hedges 1906 - 1915

Memories of a former Pupil

Phylis started school in 1906. Her father was one of the first builders in Sandhurst. He did in fact build the house known as "The Holt" and Phylis remembers that Sandhurst did not have a railway station there at the time, It was quite a while later that the station was built.

The headmaster at the school was Mr. Oldham. Mrs. Oldham taught cooking lessons and their daughter Peggy was a pupil (student) teacher.

Teachers at St. Michaels at that time were:- Miss Bunch, Head of Infants, Miss Cullen, Miss Cole, Miss Kingston, Miss Hares, Maggy Evans and Dorothy James.

When asked if they used slates for their work Phylis replied that "they did indeed have paper"!! She rather favoured maths at school and the classrooms were just as they are today - numbering from one to seven.
Classrooms were heated by a coke stove. Unfortunately - or fortunately! they did not have school meals and either took sandwiches or mostly went home.

Phylis was lucky enough to own her own bicycle but was not allowed to ride it to school.

In the earlier years at St. Michael's they did not have a school uniform.

They did Maypole Dancing, Country Dancing and Folk Dancing, just as we do today.

Children played the same sort of games at playtime - like Hopscotch and marbles and one other that we don't play now -bowling hoops!

Phylis enjoyed every minute of school and could not bring to mind any horrible memories at all.

St Michael's School Crest

Our school crest, like the school,will be 150 years old in 2012. The origins of the crest can be seen in the dated ornamental stone in the brickwork above the ducklings class entrance.

This reflects the date of construction of the building and represnts the crest of the Walter family who owned Bearwood House near Abefford.  The country house is now Bearwood College.The school building was initially gifted for use as a school by John Walter III who was the major landowner in the area when Sandhurst was just a small village.

Extracts from the School Log book 1863 - 1910

The first entry in the Log Book is dated August 5th, 1863. We know that the school first admitted pupils in 1862 but there is no record of the exact date.

It can be assumed that no log book was kept between the date of opening and August 5th 1863 - or, if it was, that it was only a temporary affair which has long since been lost or destroyed.

August 5th 1863
The Revd. H.W. Bellairs H.M.I, visited this School, with Mr. Walter. Half-day holiday given by Mr. Walter.

September 22nd 1863
Sangers Circus attracted children, so obliged to give half holiday.

November 13th 1863
Attendance bad all week. Many parents had allowed children to go to Blackwater Fair although they've had bad weather at other times.

March 2nd 1864
Found a great many children unable to tell the date of the year. Took elder children to church.

May 6th 1864
Parents still continue to keep their children away on Friday afternoons to mind the "baby" while the mother is washing.

A Brief History of St. Michael's Church of England Primary School ..

[Extracted from a school booklet produced in 1987 to celebrate 125 years of St Michaels.]

Founded in 1862, St. Michael's was the first school to be established in the Sandhurst area. Before this time many children had no formal education. Some attended the "Dame School" which operated in Rosary Cottage (which can still be seen, opposite the Lych Gate) and the children of the wealthy families were either sent away to be educated or had a governess at home.

The first phase of St. Michael's School was built thanks to the generosity of Mr. John Walter, the Squire of Bearwood. The building (which now houses the infant classes) was completed in 1862 and loaned to the Church for a nominal rental. The Walter family crest (Aesop's stork and pitcher) can be seen above the schoolroom door. The accommodation comprised: one large schoolroom, two smaller rooms and the Headmaster's House, and catered for children aged between eight and fourteen. The first Headmaster was a Mr. Edwin Ashton and the seventy or so pupils came from Sandhurst and the surrounding parishes. At this time education was not compulsory and maintaining attendance levels was something of a problem, with children regularly being taken out of school to help in the fields or with domestic duties.

Introduction

In 2012, St Michaels celebrates 150 years of continuous service to our community. This is a huge achievement and we believe that it is the oldest primary school in the area. This site has been set up by the current head to allow the widest possible interaction by current and past members of the school, be they ex-pupils, staff, governors or members of the local community.

We want to share your tales, your reminiscences, your funny stories of your time at St Michaels. If you have old class photos, we'd love to see them, and share them on this site.

The site, at www.stmichaels150.blogspot.com, is open for you to add your memories, your stories of your time at the school. Please add your stories to the comments on any of the existing articles.  We encourage past pupils, past staff to contribute their humorous tales of their time at our wonderful school. Old class photos will be especially welcomed. It would help if you start your entry with your name and the years you were associated with the school.   If you have an older relative, friend or neighbour who attended the school, then perhaps you could gently nudge them to provide directly or indirectly their memories.

For those devoted to social network sites, an alternate method of adding your memories can be found by searching facebook for ‘st michaels 150’. You have to be logged in to facebook to carry out  a search. We’d love to hear from you.

Please note that the minimum age for a facebook account is 13. At St Michaels , we take our responsibilities seriously and actively discourage any current pupils from using social networking sites. We will therefore be making provision, closer to the 150^th celebrations in March 2012 , for our current pupils, as a class activity,  to share their thoughts on school life.

If you’d rather send your reminiscences or photos via email, then they can be sent to a special email address,  stmichaels150@gmail.com  It may take a few days before your tales appear on the site.

Finally, for those who would rather send their stories/photos by mail, then please address them to The Secretary, St Michaels CofE Primary School, Lower Church Road Sandhurst GU47 8HN. Please mark the envelope with 150^th Memories. Please supply a return address for photos. The school will then arrange for the photos to be scanned and returned.