schools

schools. The earliest elementary schools date from the Middle Ages. They consisted of song schools and reading schools, the former to train boys as choristers, the latter to teach youths to read and write. Education was free and the schools were usually endowed. From the time of the Reformation, there was a variety of private, petty, and parish schools, usually taught by people who had other occupations. The charity schools, particularly those provided by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, provided widespread elementary schooling for the poor. As urban and industrial changes took place in the later 18th cent., Sunday schools provided part-time schooling for working children. Rival religious bodies supplied the monitorial schools at the beginning of the 19th cent., the British and Foreign School Society (1808) and the National Schools Society (1811). The need for universal elementary education was recognized by 1870, when school boards were established to provide buildings where necessary. During the 20th cent., as the need for a more child-centred education was recognized, the elementary school became the primary school, catering for children up to the age of 11. Infant and junior departments, separate or combined, were established.

The distinctive feature of secondary schools from the earliest time was the predominance of Latin. To teach this the grammar school was established throughout England, varying in size and social intake. Alongside these, from Tudor times, were the private schools, usually kept by clergymen, with boarding facilities. In the following century, modern schools or academies, offering a literary and scientific education, flourished. These often catered for specific occupations, such as the army, business, or trade. Girls were almost exclusively educated at home, by parents or by tutors. The leading grammar schools during the course of the 19th cent. developed into more exclusive public schools. A new type of public school, the proprietary school, established by non-profit-making church and secular companies, received recognition in towns where alternative education was frequently not available.

Secondary schooling was reformed after the Endowed Schools Act of 1869 and provision made for the first time for the daughters of the middle classes. After the 1902 Education Act, the rise of the municipal grammar school increased the provision of secondary education. Comprehensive secondary schools replaced the majority of grammar schools from the 1960s. There are now other types of schools at this level, including sixth-form colleges, grant-maintained, and city technology colleges.

Peter Gordon