Eleanor Cornish 1931

Remembering St Michaels CofE School Sandhurst

Eleanor Cornish 1935

I started school after Easter in 1931. My older sisters, Edna and Winnie, were already pupils, so I was happy to join them.

The Infant teacher, Miss EH Burch was a very kind but firm lady and we all loved her.

We used small blackboards and white chalk for some time, then we moved on to pencils and paper before we moved on at 7 years old to the big school.

The Infant school was a separate building. There was a big room, with some small tables and chairs in one half and 4 rows of desks – all facing the teacher in the other half.
Before leaving school at dinnertime we would stand at our desks and sing:

“Thank you for the world so sweet
Thank you for the food we eat
Thank you for the birds that sing
Thank you God for everything”

Children who lived a distance from the school, some as far as the Wellington Arms, would bring their sandwiches to eat in the classroom, but those who lived nearer would go home, where their mothers would have dinner ready for them. We had 1½ hours in those days, then afternoon school ended at 3.30pm for the infants and 3.45 for the older ones (ages 7 – 14 yrs).