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We have put together an archive of photographs and documents about our school with the help of the County Records Office. A number of local people and ex-pupils have contributed too. The Archive is on display in the school, but we thought we would like to make it available to a wider audience through our website. Please note this page is under-development, more material will appear here shortly.
How it all started
We have very few photographs from the school's early days, so if you have any and would be happy for us to include them in our archive, please get in touch with the school. Many children in Victorian England didn’t go to school at all. In 1870 a law was passed saying that all children between the ages of 5 and 13 must go to School, with parents paying a small fee towards their costs wherever possible. In 1891 elementary education became free. Board schools such as the one shown here were run by a board of Governors. Children were grouped according to set ‘standards’, rather than by age, and these were set attainments in reading, writing and arithmetic. Grants to Board Schools were dependent upon pupils’ attendance and success in passing examinations. Classes were often as large as 70 or 80 and so all the children had to do the same thing at the same time. In 1889 there were 12 children aged between 5 and 13 in camelsdale: 5 attended Linchmere School; 2 Haslemere; 3 Fernhurst; one was disabled and one of ‘weak intellect’, ten years later there was an increasing need for a School in Camelsdale. There were now 50 new and 30 old houses in the area and children had to go to School in Linchmere, Fernhurst, Haslemere or Shottermill. Shottermill School was over crowded and wanted to free itself of 34 Fernhurst and 12 Linchmere pupils. There was ample room in Fernhurst School, which was within the distance specified in the bye-laws, but Mr. Colvill, an Inspector, recommended that the Fernhurst School Board immediately be called to provide a new School at Camelsdale for at last 80 (but preferably 100) children. By March 1901, having failed to secure a suitable site by agreement, the Fernhurst School Board asked the Board of Education for a compulsory purchase order. In April the latter ordered the Fernhurst School Board “to provide… School accommodation… by the purchase of a site near the house formerly known as the Bell Inn and by the erection there on of a school for at least 60 children and a teacher appointed. She was Miss Florence Isabell Pinnell, a 22 year old who had been apprenticed as a pupil- teacher in Milland and Rake School in 1895 and had qualified as a full teacher at the North Wales Training College, Bangor in June 1901. Thus the temporary school opposite the end of Bell Vale Lane opened on 30th September 1901. The Bell School was only a temporary measure until a more suitable building could be provided, At first Fernhurst School Board hoped to build a permanent School on a site near the Bell, but the landowner (a Mr. William Clement Lucas of Haslemere) fought a hard, and successful, campaign to avoid the compulsory purchase of the acre of his land needed. His campaign began in October 1901 when he wrote to the Board of Education, complaining that “children are a great nuisance to me. They throw bottles and tins on my land, damage the fences and steal apples”. He hoped to sell his land to a gentleman who would build a house on the higher ground. However the entrance at the Camelsdale end was “spoilt by the cottages and now the Fernhurst School Board wish to spoil the entrance at the Bell end by building a School. This would very much lessen the value of the property. No gentleman would like cottages at one end and a school at the other”. Mr. Lucas continued arguing with both the Fernhurst School Board and the Board of education, adding that it was immoral for them to take one of his 60 acres in preference to someone else (a Mr. Yatman?) who had 500 acres. He tried to show that Mr Yatman’s land would be more suitable, but the Board of Education rejected that as it was full of springs, bounded by two roads (thus more dangerous to children) and it would prove more costly. By December 1901 the Board of Education decided to hold an enquiry for everyone to voice their opinions and advised the Fernhurst School Board to employ a solicitor. Suddenly, in April 1902, the Fernhurst School board reported to the Board if education that their last meeting unanimously agreed to accept (subject to the Boards of education’s approval) an offer of a site in the centre of Camelsdale, from a Mr. Leesmith. The Board of Education’s fears that Mr. Leesmith was driving a hard bargain were dismissed. He had bought a two-acre site with “the express purpose of selling one acre to the Board”. He offered “the better portion… at the price he gave for it”. It was also acknowledged, however, that everyone knew his motive was “to remove the School further from his own house”. Nonetheless, in May 1902, the Board of education approved the site, on the condition that the Fernhurst School board provided a road for the 50 yards from the site to the main road. Plans were approved for a School room (40’ x 22’) for 80 mixed pupils and an infants’ room for 40 (20’ x 22’). In February 1903, Mr. Walter Harding’s tender of £1,010 for the building was accepted. Furniture was estimated at a further £100 (40 desks and seats at 12/6d; 20 infant’s desks and seats at 10/- each; a teacher’s desk at £4.10.0d. 2 tables at £3.10.0d, each; 6 chairs at 5/- each; 5 roller blinds at 10/- each; 2 cupboards at £6. each and the installation of gas or electric light at £2.10.0d.). Then fees for architect (£60) and solicitors (£25); for making up the ground (£50); making the road to the site (£35) and finally the iron fencing and gates (£80). In all, a total of £1360, which would be borrowed from the Public Works Loan Commission and repaid at 3¼% over 30 years. By August no contracts had been signed because the Fernhurst School Board had ceased to exist following the 1902 Education Act. The County Education committee took over the project and on 14th September 1904 the School opened its doors to pupils. In December 1905, £178 was borrowed to make the statutory road to the main road. Information supplied by West Sussex County Records Office "I attended Camelsdale Primary School between the age of 4½ - 10 years old. They were very happy school days and the teachers at the time were:-
Miss Mathia -
Class 1 All the local children attended the school and the day would always start with an assembly. We would then go back to our classes where all lessons were taught. In the first class we would do maths and english in the mornings and play, draw and paint in the afternoons. In the following classes the day would be more formally structured. We use to do P.E. 2/3 times a week and swam in the pool during the summer months. There was a pottery room with kiln etc, and a pets corner with small animals such as rabbits, gerbils and mice, we would all take turns in feeding and caring for the animals. During the school year we would always have a Harvest Festival, Nativity Play and during the last week of the summer term Sports Day. the children were divided into four teams, Reds, Yellows, Greens and Blues. (I can't remember which team I was in!) And the events were held on the spots field at the back. All the children use to have school lunches which consisted of a hot, but pretty tasteless meal, during which time we were supervised by Dinner ladies, two of whom were Mrs Windybanks and Mrs Urquhart." Reminiscences by Sharon Cook (nee Batchelor)
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