School was once privately run

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33373, 3 November 1973, Page 12

School was once privately run

(By

ROBIN MITCHELL)

The centenary celebrations of the St Albans District School last weekend recall that the school dates back to when all Canterbury' schools were run privately. It is one of the oldest still-existing schools in the province. The St Albans School was founded in 1859 as the St Albans Wesleyan School, The first building consisted of one room 24 ft. by 14 ft. built for £3OO on a quarteracre in St Albans Lane, opposite Coopers Road (now respectively St Albans Street and Somme Street). The Provincial Government contributed £lOO of this under its policy of aiding private schools rather than run schools of its own. A second room was added in 1862; the next year the school had a roll of 65 boys and girls. During the 1860 s there was rising discontent with the denominational schools, and some Government-run but still fee-charging “district” schools were started. In 1871 it was made possible for district schools to be built and maintained entirely by Provincial Government grants and local rating, and many new such schools appeared. This accounts for the large number of school centenaries being celebrated in Canterbury in 1972-73. Sometimes a district school was simply a contin-

uation of an existing school but under new management, as at St Albans. The meeting setting up a St Albans School district was held in the Wesleyan School on January 12, 1872. As a school committee was elected at the meeting, Education Board control may be said to have begun at that date, although the official transfer from the Church did not take place until September 30. The meeting wanted the district school to continue indefinitely on the old site, but this was not possible because the board specified a minimum of one acre of The pupils moved into a new school on the present site in Sheppard Place early in 1874, having remained meantime in the old building. I suspect strongly that in the changeover from Church to State control the headmaster and the chairman of the school committee also moved over, but missing church records have prevented confirmation of this. At any rate, the new headmaster, Mr Eltenton Mitchell, was a lay preacher of the St Albans Wesleyan Church, and the chairman. Mr C. W. Turner, was its Sunday school superintendent. Moreover, the new site was made available by Joseph Pattrick, a founder member of the church.