There are very few historical records covering education in Barling over the years, apart from a few Parochial & Education Returns which divulge the limited education which has been available to our children since 1818.
The Parochial Returns of 1818 reveal:
1. "One school, in which from 15 to 26 children are taught by a mistress. A day school lately established, containing at present only 4 children."
2. "There is a national school in the neighbouring parish of Great Wakering, into which all who are desirous find admission, mounting at present to 14."
[Source: Digest of Parochial Returns. Select Committee on Education of the Poor, 1818]
In 1833 it was recorded "Population 317. Two Daily Schools: in one whereof 10, and in the other (commenced 1833) 12 children of both sexes are instructed at the expense of their parents."
[Source: House of Commons papers, Volume 41. Abstract of Education Returns 1833]
The map below is extracted from one of the OS Six-inch series of maps of England and Wales [1842-1952] which was surveyed in 1873 but not published until 1880. As you can clearly see, Barling Magna School, as we know it today, does not appear on the map since it was built after the map was surveyed in 1873.
On 09 September 1878, ‘Barling Board School’ as it was originally called, was opened by the Wakering School Board. In 1903 the school became known as Barling Council School, when responsibility for Board Schools passed to the Education Committee of Essex County Council. During the Second World War the school received evacuees from Chingford and a bomb fell on school premises in 1942 causing some damage. In 1946 the school was renamed ‘Barling Magna Council School’. New premises were completed in 1973 adjoining Little Wakering Road.
[Source: Seax - Essex Archives Online TS 617 - Microfilm of Records of Barling Magna County Primary School]
In the Census Return of 1881 there were 2 people listed as being at the ‘School House’, a Certified Teacher and a Pupil Teacher:
Rose A., GLASS, Wife (Head), M, 25, Certificated Teacher, Bedford, Bedford
Lily J., FOSTER, Boarder, U, 16, Pupil Teacher, Wickham Market, Suffolk
The Census Record is based on each individual who spent the night in the household so probably the two teachers were actually living at the school.
Betty Dobson, nee Deadman, has transcribed the names of the early teachers and head teachers at the school from old school log books. They can be seen here: http://www.barlingwakeringvillages.co.uk/barling/teachers_at_barling_school.htm.
The following further records are stored on Microfilm under reference ‘TS 617’ at Essex Record Office, but regrettably, they share reels which are closed and will not be available until 2062:
Microfilm of log books (mixed and infants), 1878-1951
Microfilm of admission registers (mixed and infants), 1878-1971
Microfilm of admission registers (nursery class), 1945-1958
I doubt if many of us will be around in 2062. In the meantime, photographs of students and teachers of the old school can be seen on our original website at: http://www.barlingwakeringvillages.co.uk/index.html.
