Logbook of Broomhill and Camber National School

There is a file on the school, 1876-1938, among the archive of the National Society at the Church of England record centre, Bermondsey; parts of this introduction have been based on information kindly supplied from it by Sarah Duffield, archivist

Head teachers

1877-1883 Rhoda Ann Earl (Mrs Moffett from Apr 1880)

1883-1894 Kate Wood (Mrs Southerden from Oct 1891)

1894-1896 Sarah Cook

1896-1897 Amy Swain; Robert James Dash of Lydd (temporary appointments)

1897-1900 Mrs Kate Southerden

1900-1902+ Elizabeth Rudduck

<1915-1915+ Miss Mead

<1927-1927+ Miss Stokes

<span class="wrapper"><p>For a cash book, 1887-1903, see ESC 40/1; for an HMI report, 1910, see C/E 2/1; for general correspondence, including complaints against the head teacher whose dogs worried sheep and her subsequent resignation, 1896-1901, see DAP box 62/4; for correspondence concerning the appointment of a headmistress, including testimonials, 1900, see DAP box 319/8</p> <p>For Ministry of Education files, 1871-1916, 1919-1935 and 1937, see PRO ED 21/17189, 40898 and 62007</p></span>

Document purchased 22 November 2000 (ACC 8243)

This document was in private hands in October 1996, when its owner wrote to the record office requesting information on the history of the school. He said that the book had been salvaged from the ruins of the school after a flying bomb had destroyed it in 1944, but since the buildings had been demolished seven years earlier it seems likely (see Introduction) that the book was housed at the neighbouring mission church which was destroyed by the V1. He declined the office's request to deposit the book. In November 2000 the volume was purchased from a dealer, whose immediate source had been another dealer

Introduction

Camber School was built in 1876 and opened in April 1877 in what an HMI described in 1880 as a cold and desolate spot, drawing its children from a scattered and fluctuating population, including the coastguard families at Camber and Jurys Gap. Rhoda Earl, a probationary teacher, was appointed mistress at £40 a year and Walter Dawes, a Rye solicitor, served as secretary. According to the first inspection, few of the children had attended any school before

A teacher's house was built in 1881 and a new classroom opened in April 1901. Probably as a result of the dilapidation of its buildings, the school closed on 25 January 1937 and the children transferred to Rye; the buildings were demolished within a year. The neighbouring mission church, to which this document had probably been transferred, was destroyed by a flying bomb on 28 August 1944 (C/E 10/75, SPA 1/1/4)

The school was financed by grants from the National Society, the government and (by 1896) a voluntary rate of 3d in the £

Other than copies of HMI reports, until the appointment of Sarah Cook in 1894 the logbook consists largely of notes of the admission and discharge of pupils. Thereafter the entries are written in a fuller narrative style with more attention to teaching and events and fewer mentions of children

As well as its situation problems faced by the school included the proximity of golf links, at which the older boys were often absent caddying, and a manager incapable of verifying the register 'owing to his inability to read names on schedule, he being no scholar'. In 1900 the mistress was compelled to walk in every morning from Rye when the 9am tram was discontinued. Amy Swain, head teacher 1896-1897, incurred the wrath of a local farmer when the large number of dogs that she kept at Camber worried his sheep. Miss Swain suggested that the complaint was more to do with her chastisement of his sons, but the event seems to have led to her hurried departure from her post