AN EDUCATION AT SPRING LANE SCHOOL, 1928

Spring Lane School was situated in the poorest part of Northampton. In 1928 the School Inspector had some scathing remarks to make about the pupils' ability yet the report of Ada May Burditt who was a pupil in Class V in 1928 (reproduced below) appears to prove him wrong !

Regular school inspections were carried out by HM Inspector of Schools. In 1928 the inspection of Spring Lane School produced this report. "Much of the work in this school is frankly not to be judged by a normal standard. This is not said with any intention of excusing the results, but merely a fair indication of the complex problems with which the teachers here are confronted. "A large part of the school is composed of girls whose mental and physical equipment is below the normal as a more or less direct consequence of poverty and social environment. These children do not appear to have been classified by any technical modern ways of measuring intelligence and the teachers of the special classes rely for their by no means unsuccessful methods on their own interpretation of the girls' needs rather than on any specific training on work of this kind. The institution of some recognised special means of dealing with these classes would probably have valuable and interesting effects."

The inspector finishes his report with a few kind words perhaps to compensate to some extent for his unreserved criticism " In the meantime it must be said that these scholars reflect the industry, good manners and excellent tone of the school in a way that does much credit to their teachers" The report of Ada May Burditt (reproduced above) gives a totally different impression of the intelligence of a Spring Lane School pupil, with its neat careful writing and high mark

THE WAR YEARS

During 1939 and 1940 the school and local residents had to accommodate evacuee children. Local people in the Boroughs already lived in very crowded conditions and the imposition of extra children was a great strain on their resources

The Log Book of the school records the events:

September 1939 - Tottenham Road School, LCC (Junior boys and girls) received here at 8.30am and 12.30pm. Trench practice and gas drill

May 27th 1940 - Trench practice held - all scholars taking part observed by Air Raid Warden

June 17th 1940 - Air Raid practice - scattering in playground in case of machine gunning

September 2nd 1940 - As ther is not sufficient room in shelters for all scholars, all children including LCC attend 8 times instead of 10

September 11th 1940 - School closed on account of further evacuation from Ipswich and London

Air raid shelters under construction in Herbert Street, the Boroughs, 1939                    - Spring Lane School is at the bottom of the street

SPRING LANE SCHOOL IN THE 1950s

Sometimes, when researching a project a group of photographs are found of unknown ownership which bring back a period long gone The pictures on this page were taken in the late 1950s, the only known surviving record of Spring Lane School shortly before it was demolished. The photographer is anonymous but we owe them a debt for leaving us this snapshot of times past

The view on the right is of the old Victorian school building with the spacious grassed area to the frontage. When the school was built in 1874 a row of terraced houses hemmed the building in on three sides. it was only on Spring Lane that there were no houses. By the 1950s the only remaining houses on the school's perimeter were in Spring Lane Terrace; these can be seen in the left photo of the School Sports Day. Spring Lane Terrace ran along the bottom of the playing fields and was a row of small two-up two-down houses

The Victorian Spring Lane School is clearly shown to be a capacious building designed for the large number of children which would need to be accommodated from the many big families in the Boroughs of 1874

One of the most interesting photos in this small group was of St Katherine's Mission in Scarletwell Street. The Mission predated Spring Lane School and was affiliated to St Katherine's Church at the other end of the Boroughs. The Mission (above) was situated directly to the south of the school and it can be seen from this photograph that when the school was built it had to be squeezed into the area adjacent to the Mission.

Prior to the Education Act of 1870 one of the few sources of education for children was the Sunday School. Many children received this very basic teaching at one of the Missions in the town where they gained a rudimentary education. St Katherine's Mission was demolished in the 1960's and these photographs show the views before and after (below)

Oher photographs in this small collection show Sports Day at Spring Lane School some time in the 1950s...

This view clearly shows the school from the west with Claremont House in the background. The grassy sports field slopes down towards the lower area where the parents, mostly mothers, wait for the next race.

In the marquee to the right the trophies are kept ready to be presented; the headmaster stands to the left of the marquee with his loudspeaker

Another view of the sports field (above) with children waiting their turn to take part. In the background are buildings in Spring Lane Terrace, now demolished

Here, a race is in full swing as the winner reached the finishing tape

and finally... a happy group of 1950s pupils enjoy playing on a climbing frame !

A NEW SCHOOL  - A NEW START, 1974

The opening of the new Spring Lane School in 1970 marked a new start for the children of the Boroughs. The school was architect designed to serve the needs of a modern education The area of the school site in 1970 was two acres which included generous sized playing fields to the west of the school; some ten years before terraced housing which bounded the school had been cleared opening up areas of land for the playing fields which were then grassed over and planted

The only possible location for the new school was on the original site since the land drops away towards the river from east to west by twenty six feet The construction project consisted of two phases. The children at the school were educated on site whilst building work took place

1. The children and staff were housed in the old two story east wing and the remaining structure was demolished 2. The children and staff then moved into the new building and the old east wing was demolished allowing the second phase of the building to be erected

The  total cost of the rebuild was £77,480 and the cost per child was £206 1s 11d The images above show the floor plan and the school site. The building is of split level design and the Junior and Infant areas were linked through the stage and dining area The images below show the new classrooms and canteen which were light, spacious and airy

CENTRAL AREA SCHOOL BUILDINGS REBORN !

The opening of the new school was celebrated and commemorated in the local press

The Opening of the new school in Spring Lane, Northampton

 12th May 1970

The Chronicle and Echo reported the opening of the new school with the following words:

Performing the opening ceremony the Chairman of the Schools Committee said that the rebirth of the school was an occasion of pride and joy recalling that the original Spring Lane School was built in 1874, he said it was particularly appropriate that they should remember this today in their surroundings since the school was one of the first resulting from the Education Act of 1870, the centenary which is commemorated this year.

The most exciting development at Spring Lane School was the starting of a special class for children with learning difficulties. The number of children in this class would not exceed 16 children. The Chairman added "I am sure that we will all agree that a good school does not depend however on magnificent buildings. The quality of the education the children receive is almost entirely a question of leadership given the by the head teacher and the character of the teachers"

The Mayor of Northampton, Alderman John Poole and the Mayoress were present and Rev A E Bransby dedicated the school.

SPRING LANE SCHOOL 2004 - INTO A NEW CENTURY

There are a lot of changes ahead for the school in the next couple of years. This view shows the entrance in Spring Lane with the two tower blocks of Beaumont and Claremont Court undergoing refurbishment. In the forty years since they were built they had greatly deteriorated and were in great need of a facelift; this was also true for the school

Apart from the caretaker's house the only part of the Victorian school to remain today is the Cookery Centre (above right); this served as the Nursery until 2006 when a brand new nursery was built as part of the radical revamp of Spring Lane School.

The small building to the left of the nursery (above) is the Community Room which serves a variety of purposes including community meetings, adult learning and parent and child classes

The playground (above) has been in the same place since 1874; on this autumn day in 2004 schoolchildren play together just as they always did !