The 1950s were a period of big changes for the school and the country. For the school there was a change of leadership and with the death of King George VI the country had a new monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Following the Butler Education Act in 1944 that introduced the tripartite system of Grammar, Technical and Secondary Modern schools for children aged 11 to 15, Yoxford school changed from an ‘All Age’ school to a Primary school with a reduced number of pupils.
In 1950 the school had 146 pupils and space was short in the school buildings. As well as using the old school for a canteen, the Village Club (Village Hall) was used on a number of days during the week. A year or so later in 1952 the school was reorganised into six classes, one of which was accommodated in the Wesleyan Chapel schoolroom across the road.
During the early 50s it became obvious that the school buildings were too cramped and deteriorating.
‘The County Architect visited this afternoon to inspect lack of washing facilities, inadequate accommodation and appalling state of the playground.’ (8/12/52)
‘The rooms in the school are very cold, the temperature at 9.30 a.m. being as slow as 36 degrees F in the Infants’ Room and rising to 50 degrees F in the afternoon. This is due in my opinion to poor quality coal, primitive fire places and droughts. The Managers have been informed.’ (29/1/54)
Mr. Charles Hacon had been Headmaster of Yoxford School since 1935.
Many of a Headmaster’s day to day tasks would be taken up with daily administration, including the maintenance of the school, heating, staffing for the school and canteen and orders and deliveries of coal and other goods.
‘Canteen cook reported potatoes delivered were short in weight in two sacks. 20 lb in each. I telephoned suppliers who promised to investigate.’ (12/5/50)
On another occasion the meat delivery was a problem.
‘Reported to me that 17lb of Chuck steak delivered to Yoxford School Canteen by *** of Leiston was ‘fly blown’. Company informed.’
For the pupils, besides the daily three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) there were other activities.
There was the Pig Club. During the 50s the school would regularly take delivery of pigs to rear:
‘Two pigs received by the School Pig Club and housed in the Pig Sty built by the Senior Boys.’ (14/9/50)
Blackberrying was an annual school event. The whole school would take an afternoon off in September and the proceeds from the berries and the resulting jam would go towards the Sports Fund. In 1954 £4 15s 6d was raised.
There were swimming lessons held at the beach at Sizewell; swimming certificates for swimming from 10 yards to 220 yards were awarded to pupils. These lessons were cancelled in poor sea conditions.
‘Children attended swimming instruction at Sizewell Beach under Headmaster (Mr Peck) who braved the foam (heavy swell) himself.’ (18/7/58)
The children also received talks and entertainment from visitors to the school. A Mr. Marsden gave a talk on Pond Life to the whole school at the Village Club and the children were also entertained by a string ensemble at the school:
‘Miss Bryer, with Misses Churton, this morning gave the school the privilege of hearing music on the violin, the viola and the violin cello.’
Visitors from abroad also spoke to the children: Mr. Kem Yu Sion gave a talk on Borneo and Mr. John Badcock of Freemantle talks on Australia.
In December 1956 Mr. Charles Hacon retired as Headmaster. There was a presentation to him at the Village Hall Club by old students and parents.
The school also held a presentation for him attended by teaching staff, canteen staff and all scholars. Mr. Hacon wrote a farewell message in the school logbook.
In January 1957 Mr. W. B. Peck became Headmaster with a roll of 143 pupils: 73 boys and 70 girls.
As the new Headmaster, Mr. Peck introduced many changes to the school. These included:
- No more lining up in the playground before entering school.
- In future, marking of children’s work by teachers while the pupils were in class would stop. Teachers could either mark work alongside individual children who did the work or they were to take marking home.
- There was to be no more smoking in classrooms.
He also made changes to involve parents and community in the school more. On 4th June 1957 there was an inaugural meeting of the new parents’ association, the AYPA.
Instead of having an Open Day the school would now have an ‘At Home’, where parents would be invited to meet the staff, and pupils’ work would be displayed.
In March 1957 a House system was introduced for the first time. There were three Houses, with colour names and the idea was that it would be an added stimulus to encourage sporting, field and academic achievements. The system included House Captains and Prefects.
Mr. Peck also started a choir for pupils that was well attended. In January 1958 the Headmaster said that the choir practice had been additionally interesting because he had borrowed ‘a record-maker’ and made recordings of the children’s efforts and then played them back to the choir afterwards.
There was a successful school concert in February 1958. The dress rehearsal was attended by 50 pensioners as guests and each lady was given an egg cosy and each gentleman an ashtray, gifts made by the children. The concert was very well attended with around 200 friends and family gathering in the school room. The Headmaster praised the pupils for a very high level of performance and said that the atmosphere had been ‘most cordial’. The concert raised £11 7s 0d towards the children’s Christmas parties.
Another milestone in the history of the school took place on 1st April 1958. This was the last day of the school in the form of an ‘All Age’ school and the beginning of the school consisting of children aged 5 to 11.
Ex-Headmaster Mr. Charles Hacon was on hand to take a photo of all the staff and pupils on this day.
Mr. Peck considered this an event of such importance to the village that he arranged for a Valedictory Service to be held at St. Peter’s Church.
This change to the school had consequences for the number of children on the roll of the school. When Mr. Peck became Headmaster at the beginning of 1957 there were 143 children on the school roll. When the school reassembled after Easter in 1958 there were only 85.
Class 1. Mr. W.B. Peck 27 children
Class 2. Mrs. J.M. Peck 26 children
Class 3 (infants) Mrs. E.M. Cornish 32 children
Another change at this time was the introduction of a school uniform. The Headmaster writes that
‘The school has now adopted the colours maroon and light blue. Mrs. Horner has kindly co-operated by obtaining Blazers, Cap, Berets and Badges etc. The children so dressed look most attractive and it is a great improvement on the ‘Multi-coloured Fancy Dress’ suffered by this school in the past. (23/4/1958)